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餐饮 (cān yǐn) — food and beverage; catering

Definition

餐饮 refers to the food and beverage industry or business (e.g. 餐饮公司, 餐饮市场), not a meal itself. 餐厅 is a restaurant/dining place; 饮食 is more about diet or food and drink in general.

noun
food and beveragecatering

Examples

  • 餐饮。
    Zhè jiā cān yǐn qǐ yè de guǎn lǐ hěn guī fàn.
    The management of this catering company is very standardized.
  • 餐饮。
    Tā duì cān yǐn shì chǎng de fā zhǎn qū shì hěn yǒu yán jiū.
    He has done a lot of research on the development trends of the food and beverage market.
  • 餐饮。
    Tā zài yì jiā cān yǐn gōng sī zuò cǎi gòu gōng zuò.
    She works as a purchaser at a food and beverage company.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

餐cānfood
饮yǐndrink

餐 means food and 饮 means drink, so together they refer to food and drink services.

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
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 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 飲; 饮 is its simplified writing.

  • 酉酉yǒubottle (of alcoholic beverages)
  • 人人rénperson
  • 口口kǒumouth (occasionally with the tongue protruding)

The traditional form 飲 drew a person bending over a bottle to drink, with a mouth and droplets; this picture is about 飲, not the simplified 饮.

Open 饮 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5Dining & RestaurantsFood (General)

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