caan1餐
Jyutpingcaan1
Yalechāan
Definition
Meal, food, or cuisine.
colloquialfooddaily actions
How it's used
Functions primarily as a counter for meals or as a suffix for specific meal times. When used as a classifier, it often implies a complete serving or a specific dining occasion rather than just the food itself. It is frequently paired with verbs like 食 or 請 to describe the act of dining.
Measure word
caan1餐chānExamples
Have you eaten dinner yet?
Today's meal is very sumptuous.
Related words
Common mistake
Do not confuse this with 餸, which specifically refers to the dishes served alongside rice. While 餐 refers to the entire meal event, 餸 refers to the side dishes themselves.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
Grammar guides
- LocationHow to say where something is using 喺 (hai2), place words like 度, and the common coverbs that work like English prepositions.
- Serial verbsStringing two or more verbs together without any joining word, like go to the shop buy things. Extremely common in Cantonese.
- 將 disposalHow to move the object in front of the verb with 將, to focus on what happens to it. Common in instructions and writing.
