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晚餐 (wǎn cān) — dinner; evening meal

Definition

Formal word for 'dinner / evening meal,' common in writing and on signs. In everyday speech, 晚饭 is more natural; 晚 means 'evening' and 餐 means 'meal' (as in 午餐 'lunch').

noun
dinnerevening meal
Measure word · 份, 顿, 次

Examples

  • 晚餐。
    Wǒ jīn wǎn zuò le yí dùn hǎo chī de wǎn cān.
    I made a delicious dinner tonight.
  • 晚餐。
    Wǒ men míng tiān wǎn shàng yì qǐ chī wǎn cān ba.
    Let's have dinner together tomorrow evening.
  • 晚餐。
    Mā ma zuò le yí fèn hǎo chī de wǎn cān.
    Mom made a delicious dinner.

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.

晚wǎnevening
餐cānmeal

The 晚 sense of evening and the 餐 sense of meal combine for the evening 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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
日日rì
Sound part声符shēngfú
免
免miǎn晚wǎn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

晚 pairs 日, the sun part, with 免, which supplies the sound.

Open 晚 →

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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