Meaning of 吃饭
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- to have a meal
- to eat
- to make a living
How to use 吃饭
吃饭 is the everyday way to say you are having a meal, whether breakfast, lunch or dinner, not only rice. It also appears as a casual greeting and can mean making a living. Example: 我们一起去吃饭吧。(Wǒmen yìqǐ qù chīfàn ba.) Let's go eat together.
吃 (chī) has the mouth radical 口 on the left, so it is about eating. 饭 (fàn) has the food radical 饣 on the left, so 吃饭 is simply "eat food," which means to have a meal.
Common mistake: Learners often say 吃饭米饭 or 吃米饭饭, but 吃饭 is a verb plus object, so when naming a food you replace 饭 with it: 吃面条 (chī miàntiáo), not 吃饭面条. Also keep 吃 in the first tone, chī, not chí.
吃饭 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
吃 chī · to eat · 6 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
饭 fàn · cooked rice · 7 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
Related words
Words that share a character with 吃饭.
| 好吃 | hǎochī | tasty; delicious |
| 午饭 | wǔfàn | lunch |
| 饭店 | fàndiàn | restaurant; hotel |
| 晚饭 | wǎnfàn | evening meal; dinner |
| 早饭 | zǎofàn | breakfast |
| 米饭 | mǐfàn | (cooked) rice |
| 做饭 | zuòfàn | to prepare a meal; to cook |
| 饭馆 | fànguǎn | restaurant |
| 吃惊 | chījīng | to be startled; to be shocked |
| 小吃 | xiǎochī | street food; snack |
| 吃力 | chīlì | to entail strenuous effort; to toil at a task |
| 盒饭 | héfàn | meal in a partitioned box |
Questions about 吃饭
What does 吃饭 mean?
吃饭 (chīfàn) means "to have a meal; to eat".
How do you write 吃饭?
吃饭 is made of 2 characters: 吃 (6 strokes), 饭 (7 strokes). That is 13 strokes in total.
Is 吃饭 an HSK word?
Yes. 吃饭 is on the HSK 1 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 吃饭 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 吃饭 is written 吃飯.
Why do Chinese people ask 你吃饭了吗 as a greeting?
你吃饭了吗？(Nǐ chīfàn le ma?) Have you eaten? is a friendly, casual greeting, similar to "How are you?" It is not usually a real invitation. A simple reply like 吃了 (chī le) is enough.
Can I put words between 吃 and 饭?
Yes. 吃饭 is a separable verb, so other words can go in the middle. For example, 吃了饭 (chī le fàn) means "ate," and 吃一顿饭 (chī yí dùn fàn) means "have a meal."