吃饭 (chī fàn) — to eat; to have a meal; to make a living; to ea… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

吃饭 literally means 'eat rice / eat a meal' but doubles as a casual way to say 'make a living' (e.g. 靠开车吃饭 'earn a living by driving').

verb

to eatto have a mealto make a livingto earn a living

Examples

。
Wǒ men míng tiān yì qǐ chī yí dùn fàn.
Let's eat a meal together tomorrow.
吃饭。
Tā kào kāi chē chī fàn.
He makes a living by driving.
吃饭。
Wǒ měi tiān zhōng wǔ zài xué xiào chī fàn.
I eat at school every day at noon.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

饭fànrice or meal

「吃」, to eat, joins 「饭」, rice or meal, to mean having a meal.

Characters in this word

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

口乞吃

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

乞

乞qǐ吃chī

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

吃 combines 口 (mouth) with 乞, which gives the sound; it originally wrote a word meaning to stutter.

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.

Appears in

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