Meaning of 碗
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- bowl
- cup
Measure word: 隻|只,個|个
- variant of 碗[wan3]
- variant of 碗[wan3]
- variant of 碗[wan3]
How to use 碗
碗 is the everyday word for a bowl, and it also works as a measure word for anything served in a bowl. Example: 我想吃一碗面。(Wǒ xiǎng chī yì wǎn miàn.) I want to eat a bowl of noodles.
碗 (wǎn) has 石 (shí, stone) on the left, because bowls were made of hard material like stone or pottery. The right side 宛 (wǎn) gives the sound, so think of a stone bowl that sounds like wǎn.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 碗 (wǎn) with 晚 (wǎn, late, evening), which sounds the same but uses 日 (sun) instead of 石 (stone). If it is something you eat from, use the stone radical.
碗 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.
碗 wǎn · bowl · 13 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 碗.
Questions about 碗
What does 碗 mean?
碗 (wǎn) means "bowl; cup" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 碗?
碗 is made of 1 character: 碗 (13 strokes). That is 13 strokes in total.
Is 碗 an HSK word?
Yes. 碗 is on the HSK 2 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Can 碗 be used as a measure word?
Yes. You can say 一碗饭 (yì wǎn fàn, a bowl of rice) or 两碗汤 (liǎng wǎn tāng, two bowls of soup). No extra measure word is needed before the food.
What does 铁饭碗 mean?
铁饭碗 (tiě fànwǎn) literally means iron rice bowl. It refers to a very secure, stable job, because 饭碗 (fànwǎn) figuratively means a person's livelihood.