What does 饭 mean in Chinese?

饭 (fàn) means "cooked rice, meal" in Chinese. The new HSK exam expects you to recognise it at HSK 1.

How do you write 饭?

饭 is written with 7 strokes, starting from the 饣 (eat) radical and following standard Chinese stroke order (top to bottom, left to right). See the interactive stroke-order tool for the full animation.

What is the radical of 饭?

The radical of 饭 is 饣 (eat, Kangxi radical #184).

How many strokes does 饭 have?

The Chinese character 饭 has 7 strokes.

What HSK level is 饭?

On the new HSK exam syllabus, 饭 is a character to recognise at HSK 1.

饭 (fàn): Meaning, Stroke Order, Radical & Examples

饭

fàn

cooked rice, meal

HSK 1 character 7 strokes Radical: 饣 (eat)

Quick Answer

饭 (fàn) means "cooked rice, meal" with 7 strokes, radical 饣 (eat), HSK 1 on the new exam.

Full dictionary entry for 饭 →Animated stroke-order for 饭 →

Pronunciation

fàn

Meaning

Primary: cooked rice

Other meanings:

meal

Etymology

Oracle-bone origin

飯 is not attested in oracle bone; it is a later phono-semantic compound not a pictograph. It combines 食 (food, on the left) as the semantic component and 反 (fǎn, on the right) as the phonetic. The left side 食 itself originally depicted a covered vessel of grain, which grounds the food-related meaning.

Form evolution

Seal script shows 食 as a clear covered-vessel pictograph on the left and 反 on the right. Clerical script regularised both components, and in modern traditional 飯 the 食 radical appears in its full form. The simplified 饭 uses the reduced 饣 form of the 食 radical, which is the standard script-side simplification applied to all food-related characters (饭, 饮, 饿, 饺, etc.).

How the meaning evolved

The original sense was specifically 'cooked rice' or 'cooked grain', the staple meal. It broadened to mean 'a meal' in general (早饭 breakfast, 晚饭 dinner) and by further extension 'to eat a meal' as a verb in classical usage. In modern Mandarin it can refer to cooked rice specifically or to a meal depending on context.

Cultural note

吃饭 literally 'eat rice/meal' is the default way to say 'eat' in Mandarin, showing how central cooked grain is to the concept of eating itself. Learners often assume 饭 always means rice and are surprised that 盒饭 (boxed meal) or 快饭 (fast meal) extend the word to any complete meal, not the grain alone.

Mnemonic

Food that turns hunger around — cooked rice, meal

Decomposition

饭=饣radical+反component

Breaking a character into its components makes it far easier to recall. Each component above links to its own detail page.

Basic info

Pinyin	fàn
Meanings	cooked rice, meal
Stroke count	7 strokes
Radical	饣 (#184: eat)
New HSK exam	Recognise at HSK 1
Frequency	#279 most common

Example sentences

我吃米饭。
Wǒ chī mǐfàn.
I eat rice.
From 米饭 (HSK 1)
我们去饭店吃饭。
Wǒmen qù fàndiàn chīfàn.
We go to the restaurant to eat.
From 饭店 (HSK 1)
我们一起去吃饭吧。
Wǒmen yīqǐ qù chīfàn ba.
Let's go eat together.
From 吃饭

Words containing 饭

Word	Pinyin	Meaning	HSK
米饭	mǐfàn	rice	HSK 1
饭店	fàndiàn	restaurant	HSK 1
炒饭	chǎofàn	fried rice
吃饭	chīfàn	to eat (a meal)
饭	fàn	cooked rice, meal	HSK 1
饭馆	fànguǎn	restaurant	HSK 2
饭碗	fànwǎn	rice bowl, job	HSK 7-9