How to Write 饭 (fàn) — Meaning “meal; cooked rice”

Imagine you have a bowl of rice (the left radical 饣 looks like a bowl) and you need to flip it over (反 means 'reverse') to cook it evenly. Or think of the phrase 'fan rice' – the right side 反 looks like a fan, and you fan the rice to cook it.

Pay attention to the left radical 饣: its last stroke is a vertical lift (竖提) that should be written smoothly without breaking. The right side 反 starts with two short left-falling strokes (撇), then a horizontal-hook (横撇), and ends with a long right-falling stroke (捺) that extends slightly below the left side. A common mistake is making the right side too wide – keep it balanced and compact.

饭 means 'meal' or 'cooked rice', while 饥 (jī) means 'hungry' – it uses the radical 饣 with 几 (a small table) and is used in words like 饥饿 (jī'è, hunger). 饧 (xíng) is a rare character for 'sugar syrup' or 'dough', made with 饣 and 行 (walk), and you will almost never see it in daily use. Visually, 饭 has 反 on the right, 饥 has 几, and 饧 has 行.

饭 is used every day in words like 吃饭 (to eat a meal) and 米饭 (cooked rice). In Chinese culture, asking '吃饭了吗？' (Have you eaten?) is a common greeting, similar to 'How are you?' in English. 饭店 means both 'restaurant' and 'hotel', so context tells you which meaning is intended.

Common words containing 饭 include: 吃饭 (chī fàn) — to eat a meal; 米饭 (mǐ fàn) — Cooked rice; 饭店 (fàn diàn) — restaurant; hotel.