wǔ cān
lunch
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我正在吃午餐。
wǒ zhèng zài chī wǔcān.
I am eating lunch.
你吃午餐了吗？
nǐ chī wǔcān le ma?
Have you eaten lunch?
我们一起吃午餐吧。
wǒmen yīqǐ chī wǔcān ba.
Let's have lunch together.
午饭 (wǔfàn)
lunch
晌午饭 (shǎngwǔfàn)
midday meal
晚餐 (wǎncān)
dinner
早餐 (zǎocān)
breakfast
The Chinese word for lunch, 午餐 (wǔcān), is a compound of two characters: 午 (wǔ), meaning "noon", and 餐 (cān), meaning "meal". The character 午 is composed of two parts: 日 (rì), meaning "sun", and 勿 (wù), meaning "not". This suggests that the character 午 originally meant "the time when the sun is not at its highest point in the sky", which is around noon. The character 餐 is composed of two parts: 食 (shí), meaning "to eat", and 饣 (cān), meaning "food". This suggests that the character 餐 originally meant "something that is eaten". Thus, the compound word 午餐 literally means "the meal that is eaten at noon".
