西餐厅 (xī cān tīng) — Western restaurant, Western-style restaurant

Definition

A restaurant serving Western food and using Western dining customs (knives, forks, individual seating). Pairs with 中餐厅 for the parallel East/West contrast.

noun
Western restaurantWestern-style restaurant
Measure word · 家

Examples

  • 西餐厅。
    Wǒ men jīn wǎn qù nà jiā xīn kāi de xī cān tīng chī fàn ba.
    Let's go eat at that newly opened Western restaurant tonight.
  • 西餐厅。
    Zhè jiā xī cān tīng de niú pái zuò dé fēi cháng hǎo.
    The steak at this Western restaurant is very well prepared.
  • 西餐厅，。
    Zài xī cān tīng lǐ, nǐ tōng cháng huì yòng dāo chā chī fàn.
    In a Western restaurant, you usually eat with a knife and fork.

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.

西xīWestern
餐厅dining hall
餐cānmeal厅tīnghall
偏正Modifier + head

'西' (Western) and '餐厅' (dining hall) combine to mean a Western-style restaurant.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 西 →

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 →

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 廳; 厅 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
广广guǎnghouse
Sound part声符shēngfú
聽
聽tīng廳tīng
Same sound today

The traditional form 廳 pairs 广 (house) with 聽, which gives the sound; the simplified 厅 is a shorthand and its parts are not the original ones.

Open 厅 →

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