漢字Kanji · in Action & Movement
飯: meal, boiled rice
JLPT N412 strokesGrade 4Your ink: 白 Not met
飠 carries the meaning · 反 gives the sound
12 strokes
Bronze · Zhou Small seal · Qin Today
Bronze and small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Two readings, and the words that use each
ハンhan · on'yomi · in compounds
- 御飯ごはんrice (cooked), meal
- 夕飯ゆうはんdinner
- 朝御飯あさごはんbreakfast
- 昼御飯ひるごはんlunch
- 晩御飯ばんごはんdinner
- 炊飯器すいはんきrice cooker
めしmeshi · kun'yomi · on its own
- 飯めしmeal, food (derogatory)
- 朝飯前あさめしまえsimple, a piece of cake
Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
成り立ち
Where it comes from
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“A feast under the lid! Imagine lifting the cover of a steaming pot to find a meal prepared with care.”
繋がり
Connections
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
反
Also built on anti- (反)
飯 takes the 反 family's reading, ハン (han).
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by side飯 meal · 反
vs飲 drink · 欠In ChineseSimplified 饭 · traditional, as in Japanese · fàn
Japan keeps the traditional form 飯; mainland China simplifies it to 饭.
- Simplified
- 饭 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 飯 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin fàn most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.
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