做饭 (zuò fàn) — to cook; to prepare a meal

Definition

做饭 is the everyday phrase for cooking a meal at home. 厨师 names the person who cooks professionally; 煮/烧 describe specific cooking methods (boil / heat up).

phrase
to cookto prepare a meal

Examples

  • 做饭。
    Tā bú huì zuò fàn.
    He can't cook.
  • 做饭。
    Mā ma xǐ huan zuò fàn.
    Mom likes to cook.
  • 做饭。
    Wǒ mā ma zài zuò fàn.
    My mom is cooking.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

做zuòmake
饭fànmeal

做 (make) + 饭 (meal) describes making a meal, i.e. cooking.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 做 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 飯; 饭 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
食食shífood
Sound part声符shēngfú
反
反fǎn飯fàn
Same sound today

The traditional form 飯 combines 食 (food) with 反 for the sound; the simplified 饭 is a shorthand, so its parts are not the historical form.

Open 饭 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 1Daily RoutineCooking5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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