<ol>
<li>Informally in daily life, we talk about eat meals by referring to 吃饭。 In a formal situation, i.e. hotel, meeting, we use 餐 mostly in writing. </li>
<li>饭's meaning is quite flexible. You can use 饭 to refer to a general meal. However if you talk about specifically what in the meal, 饭 should be used only for boiled rice. </li>
</ol>

<p>我想吃午饭。 ---> A general meal</p>

<p>我今天午饭吃了米饭和汤。 ---> food you eat in a general meal</p>

<p>In Cantonese, they use 餐 referring to a general meal, 饭 for the boiled rice</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-27T01:52:27.187Z
2014-02-27T01:52:27.187Z
sotondolphin
<p>I see both used seemingly interchangeably, what is curious to me is that the same person will sometimes use one over the other.</p>

<p>Example sentences: "我想吃晚饭" or "我在煮早餐"</p>

<p>Looking into the roots of the words I see that while both have the meaning of a meal, 饭 is associated with cooked rice while 餐 is associated with the action of eating.</p>

<ol>
<li>When is one more appropriate?</li>
<li>Does using 饭 imply that the meal will contain rice?</li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-27T01:39:23.780Z
1. Both. 餐 sounds a limited little more formal in Mandarin. While in Cantonese, 饭 is seldom used for this phrase. 2. No.
Stan
<word-choice>
When to use [time of day]+饭 vs [time of day]+餐?
# When to use [time of day]+饭 vs [time of day]+餐?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-02-27)

I see both used seemingly interchangeably, what is curious to me is that the same person will sometimes use one over the other.

Example sentences: "我想吃晚饭" or "我在煮早餐"

Looking into the roots of the words I see that while both have the meaning of a meal, 饭 is associated with cooked rice while 餐 is associated with the action of eating.

1. When is one more appropriate?
2. Does using 饭 imply that the meal will contain rice?

**Tags:** word-choice

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: 1. Both. 餐 sounds a limited little more formal in Mandarin. While in Cantonese, 饭 is seldom used for this phrase. 2. No.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2014-02-27. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

1. Informally in daily life, we talk about eat meals by referring to 吃饭。 In a formal situation, i.e. hotel, meeting, we use 餐 mostly in writing.
2. 饭's meaning is quite flexible. You can use 饭 to refer to a general meal. However if you talk about specifically what in the meal, 饭 should be used only for boiled rice.

我想吃午饭。 ---> A general meal

我今天午饭吃了米饭和汤。 ---> food you eat in a general meal

In Cantonese, they use 餐 referring to a general meal, 饭 for the boiled rice


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