4 ms·

Funny, Google Translate renders “扒饭” as “grilled rice”. Never trust an automated translation if you don't know both languages.

yakkomajuri 5y ago
My knowledge of Chinese is slim (and getting worse!) but 饭 is indeed "rice". However, it is also used as "meal" in a lot of contexts. It's common to say 吃饭 (eat rice) as a way of saying "to have a meal". Unsure what it is supposed to mean in this context though. (note: also don't trust a random person on the internet - me - with your translations)
- HidyBush 5y ago
  Fun fact: just as the Chinese (and I think other asian cultures) utilize "rice"(their staple grain) as a synoym for a meal so in English we use the concept of a staple grain as a synoym for a meal: meal.
  - tylerfontaine 5y ago
    I can’t believe this usage of “meal” never occurred to me. That’s an amazing bit of trivia.
  - Svip 5y ago
    As far as I can tell, "meal" (time) and "meal" (flour) have different etymological origins. There was still a difference in spelling in Middle English (mel vs mele), but that distinction was lost in Modern English.[0] [0] https://www.etymonline.com/word/meal https://www.etymonline.com/word/meal
  - imperistan 5y ago
    This is something of all ages I guess. In the Bible (written thousands of years ago) they use 'eating bread' as a synonym for having a meal together.
    - carapace 5y ago
      "Companion" is literally someone you eat bread with: "co" or "com" is together ("community") and "pan" is bread.
      - mejutoco 5y ago
        I will add Spanish ”compartir”, to share.
    - KptMarchewa 5y ago
      English use tea for some reason.
      - gumby 5y ago
        That's because in Victorian times the lower classes often couldn't afford a meal at that time and had to subside on some tea and perhaps a slice of bread. The use of "tea" for that meal remains a class signifier; my paternal grandmother used it, my parents did not (my mother, despite not being a native speaker, presumably is the one who eradicated it from my father's vocabulary), and yet I continue to say unwittingly say it occasionally though I now live in the USA. A vestigial Australianism in my case It's definitely "non-U" in the UK, though that whole world is mostly gone.
    - sleightofmind 5y ago
      I've heard it as "breaking bread." I like the phrase. But yeah, it's essentially the same as eating bread, and it clearly refers to having a meal and is not limited to bread.
- nirui 5y ago
  I'm also a random person on the Internet, but I can confirm that "饭" can mean both "rice (米)" or meal, depends on the combination of word. "吃饭" almost always mean "have/having/had a meal". However, based on my research (1), "扒饭" is likely a meal type rather than an action. For example, "鸡扒饭" consists of a bowl of rice covered by a layer of pre-cooked chicken breast plus some veggies. The rice itself seemed normally cooked, not grilled. And yes, this sounded very similar to "盖浇饭" which is also a meal type. 1: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%E6%89%92%E9%A5%AD&iax=images&ia=images https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%E6%89%92%E9%A5%AD&iax=images&ia=i... yes, quite literally a re-search (Me been a local to the country, you would assume that I knew this kind of things. Well...no, this is the first time I learned this term. But if someone asks me "Hey do you want some 鸡扒饭?", I'll take my chances.)
  - livinglist 5y ago
    no 吃饭 doesn’t always mean have a meal, when asking if some one would prefer rice or noodle, it’s ‘吃饭还是吃面‘ ( you eat rice or noodle), it heavily depends on the context.
  - thrdbndndn 5y ago
    I'm a native Chinese. I think it's 猪扒饭 or 鸡扒饭, 猪扒=猪排=pork chops*. Note: 排 literally means ribs. But this dish has been evolved quite a bit and now 猪排 could be any part of pork, and I'd say pork chop is actually more common than actual ribs nowadays. Same goes to chicken - 鸡排/鸡扒 is typically just chicken breast (not like chicken has ribs to begin with, hehe).
- chrisjc 5y ago
  Person from GB: "how about a little tea?"
- Razengan 5y ago
  > It's common to say 吃饭 (eat rice) as a way of saying "to have a meal". So like “break bread”, “earning bread”, “bread and butter” etc.

yakkomajuri 5y ago

My knowledge of Chinese is slim (and getting worse!) but 饭 is indeed "rice". However, it is also used as "meal" in a lot of contexts. It's common to say 吃饭 (eat rice) as a way of saying "to have a meal". Unsure what it is supposed to mean in this context though. (note: also don't trust a random person on the internet - me - with your translations)

HidyBush 5y ago
Fun fact: just as the Chinese (and I think other asian cultures) utilize "rice"(their staple grain) as a synoym for a meal so in English we use the concept of a staple grain as a synoym for a meal: meal.
- tylerfontaine 5y ago
  I can’t believe this usage of “meal” never occurred to me. That’s an amazing bit of trivia.
- Svip 5y ago
  As far as I can tell, "meal" (time) and "meal" (flour) have different etymological origins. There was still a difference in spelling in Middle English (mel vs mele), but that distinction was lost in Modern English.[0] [0] https://www.etymonline.com/word/meal https://www.etymonline.com/word/meal
- imperistan 5y ago
  This is something of all ages I guess. In the Bible (written thousands of years ago) they use 'eating bread' as a synonym for having a meal together.
  - carapace 5y ago
    "Companion" is literally someone you eat bread with: "co" or "com" is together ("community") and "pan" is bread.
    - mejutoco 5y ago
      I will add Spanish ”compartir”, to share.
  - KptMarchewa 5y ago
    English use tea for some reason.
    - gumby 5y ago
      That's because in Victorian times the lower classes often couldn't afford a meal at that time and had to subside on some tea and perhaps a slice of bread. The use of "tea" for that meal remains a class signifier; my paternal grandmother used it, my parents did not (my mother, despite not being a native speaker, presumably is the one who eradicated it from my father's vocabulary), and yet I continue to say unwittingly say it occasionally though I now live in the USA. A vestigial Australianism in my case It's definitely "non-U" in the UK, though that whole world is mostly gone.
  - sleightofmind 5y ago
    I've heard it as "breaking bread." I like the phrase. But yeah, it's essentially the same as eating bread, and it clearly refers to having a meal and is not limited to bread.
nirui 5y ago
I'm also a random person on the Internet, but I can confirm that "饭" can mean both "rice (米)" or meal, depends on the combination of word. "吃饭" almost always mean "have/having/had a meal". However, based on my research (1), "扒饭" is likely a meal type rather than an action. For example, "鸡扒饭" consists of a bowl of rice covered by a layer of pre-cooked chicken breast plus some veggies. The rice itself seemed normally cooked, not grilled. And yes, this sounded very similar to "盖浇饭" which is also a meal type. 1: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%E6%89%92%E9%A5%AD&iax=images&ia=images https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%E6%89%92%E9%A5%AD&iax=images&ia=i... yes, quite literally a re-search (Me been a local to the country, you would assume that I knew this kind of things. Well...no, this is the first time I learned this term. But if someone asks me "Hey do you want some 鸡扒饭?", I'll take my chances.)
- livinglist 5y ago
  no 吃饭 doesn’t always mean have a meal, when asking if some one would prefer rice or noodle, it’s ‘吃饭还是吃面‘ ( you eat rice or noodle), it heavily depends on the context.
- thrdbndndn 5y ago
  I'm a native Chinese. I think it's 猪扒饭 or 鸡扒饭, 猪扒=猪排=pork chops*. Note: 排 literally means ribs. But this dish has been evolved quite a bit and now 猪排 could be any part of pork, and I'd say pork chop is actually more common than actual ribs nowadays. Same goes to chicken - 鸡排/鸡扒 is typically just chicken breast (not like chicken has ribs to begin with, hehe).
chrisjc 5y ago
Person from GB: "how about a little tea?"
Razengan 5y ago
> It's common to say 吃饭 (eat rice) as a way of saying "to have a meal". So like “break bread”, “earning bread”, “bread and butter” etc.