Meal & Other Chinese Words

Posted on by tiffany

Chinese Vocabulary · 中文词汇

Meal and Other Words in Chinese

用餐与其他词汇 yòngcān yǔ qítā cíhuì

Before we get into the vocab, here’s a fact about how a Chinese meal works. Everyone gets their own bowl of rice, but the other dishes go on shared plates in the middle of the table for everyone to pick from — usually eaten a bite at a time alongside the rice. The order is different from a Western meal, too: vegetables and mains come first, then soup, then dessert, which is typically just fresh fruit. Salad doesn’t really have a place at a Chinese meal, since serving raw, uncooked food isn’t seen as proper etiquette.

What’s for dinner

Meal Words in Chinese

ChinesePinyinEnglishKoreanJapanese
早餐zǎocānBreakfast아침朝食
午餐wǔcānLunch점심昼食
晚餐wǎncānDinner저녁夕食
快餐kuàicānFast food패스트푸드ファーストフード
西餐xīcānWestern food양식洋食
中餐zhōngcānChinese food중국요리中華料理
蔬菜shūcàiVegetables채소野菜
汤tāngSoup국スープ
甜点tiándiǎnDessert디저트デザート
沙拉shālāSalad샐러드サラダ

饭 can swap in for 餐

For breakfast, lunch, and dinner, you can swap in 饭 (fàn) for 餐 (cān) without changing the meaning: 早餐/早飯, 午餐/午飯, 晚餐/晚飯 all work the same way.

Putting it all together

Examples

今天jīntiān的de早饭zǎofàn好hǎo丰盛fēngshèng啊a Today’s breakfast is so generous!

我wǒ吃chī中菜Zhōngcài吃chī不bú惯guàn I’m not used to eating Chinese food.

💡 西餐 and 中餐 can also be called 西菜 (xīcài) and 中菜 (zhōngcài).

A mixed bag

Other Words in Chinese

ChinesePinyinEnglishKoreanJapanese
西医xīyīWestern medicine서양 의학西洋醫學
中医zhōngyīTraditional Chinese medicine중국 의학漢方
温度wēndùTemperature온도温度
行动xíngdòngAction행동行動
原因yuányīnReason원인原因
药片yàopiànTablet (medicinal)알약丸薬
药水yàoshuǐLiquid medicine물약水薬
笑话xiàohuàJoke우스운 이야기冗談
网站wǎngzhànWebsite웹 사이트ウェブサイト
目的mùdìPurpose, goal목적目的

Putting it all together

Examples

你nǐ试过shìguò中医Zhōngyī吗ma Have you ever tried Chinese medicine?

💡 Curious about traditional Chinese medicine? Check out this post.

这zhè个gè网站wǎngzhàn我wǒ点diǎn不bù开kāi I can’t get this website to open.

Test yourself

Vocabulary Quiz

A2
Do you like it? 🙂