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午餐 (wǔ cān) — lunch

Definition

午餐 is the slightly more formal word for 'lunch'; 午饭 is the everyday spoken version with the same meaning. Don't confuse with 中午 ('noon' — the time, not the meal).

noun
lunch
Measure word · 份, 顿, 次

Examples

  • 午餐。
    Wǒ měi tiān zhōng wǔ zài shí táng chī wǔ cān.
    I eat lunch at the cafeteria every day.
  • 午餐。
    Jīn tiān zhōng wǔ wǒ hé péng you yì qǐ chī le wǔ cān.
    Today at noon I ate lunch with a friend.
  • 午餐。
    Zhè jiā cān tīng de wǔ cān wèi dào bú cuò.
    The lunch at this restaurant tastes good.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

午wǔnoon
餐cānmeal

“午” refers to noon, and “餐” refers to a meal, giving the midday meal.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 午 comes from a drawing of a pestle, a heavy tool used for pounding.

Open 午 →

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
食食shíto eat; meal; food
Sound part声符shēngfú
𣦼
𣦼𣦼餐cān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

餐 combines 食, meaning food or eating, with 𣦼 as the sound part; it originally meant “to swallow.”

Open 餐 →
Appears in
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