<p>晚 maan5: evening, night</p>
<p><a href="https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk//Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E6%99%9A" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk//Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E6%99%9A</a></p>
<p>飯 faan6: cooked rice, meal</p>
<p><a href="https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk//Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E9%A3%AF" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk//Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E9%A3%AF</a></p>
<p>so, &quot;man fan.&quot; means dinner </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-25T23:55:28.857Z
2024-04-25T23:55:28.857Z
水巷孑蠻
<p>In the following children's fantasy-adventure book, written for British children in the context of the British empire:</p>
<p>Arthur Ransome, &quot;Missee Lee&quot;, Jonathan Cape,  London, 1941</p>
<p>English children have been captured by pirates near Guangdong. When the captors bring food to their prisoners, sometimes they say &quot;man fan.&quot; From context, this appears to be the evening meal. What is the Cantonese word? The phrase &quot;chiu fan&quot; also appears in this book, which I recognize as Cantonese for &quot;chi fan,&quot; but I have been unable to identify &quot;man fan&quot;. In context, it could not possibly mean 滿帆 mǎn fān, under full sail or going as fast as possible.</p>
<p>At
<a href="https://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/1258/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/1258/</a>
we find that
晚餐 maan5 caan1
means evening meal.</p>
<p>Is there some nearby, southern Chinese dialect in which caan1 turns into fan?</p>
<p>Another possibility is that the author Arthur Ransome was sloppy and wrote &quot;fan&quot; when he should have written &quot;caan&quot;.
At
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missee_Lee" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missee_Lee</a>
we find:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Ransome visited China in 1926 and 1927, where he learned about Chinese life and culture. He also met, amongst others Soong Ching-ling, the wife of Sun Yat-sen.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>By the time he wrote this novel,
perhaps he simply forgot his Chinese.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-26T02:30:07.030Z
Chi fan is Mandarin, Cantonese speakers would normally say sik faan, 食饭. Perhaps chiu fan is 早饭, breakfast!
河南宝宝
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-26T13:05:28.487Z
Since when has 晚飯 not been an acceptable synonym for 晚餐 in Mandarin or Cantonese? I would dare say that 晚飯 is actually the dominant form, and 晚餐 is more formal and restricted in use. <For reference, Min varieties generally use very different lexemes, such as 暝 and 暗頓, as the usual way of saying the evening meal.>
Michaelyus
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-27T02:13:21.887Z
@河南宝宝 I don't think Chiu Fan means早饭 in Cantonese, it sounds more like 炒饭
NanningYouth
<meaning><cantonese>
does "man fan" mean "evening meal" in Cantonese?
# does "man fan" mean "evening meal" in Cantonese?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-04-25)

In the following children's fantasy-adventure book, written for British children in the context of the British empire:

Arthur Ransome, "Missee Lee", Jonathan Cape, London, 1941

English children have been captured by pirates near Guangdong. When the captors bring food to their prisoners, sometimes they say "man fan." From context, this appears to be the evening meal. What is the Cantonese word? The phrase "chiu fan" also appears in this book, which I recognize as Cantonese for "chi fan," but I have been unable to identify "man fan". In context, it could not possibly mean 滿帆 mǎn fān, under full sail or going as fast as possible.

At
<https://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/1258/>
we find that
晚餐 maan5 caan1
means evening meal.

Is there some nearby, southern Chinese dialect in which caan1 turns into fan?

Another possibility is that the author Arthur Ransome was sloppy and wrote "fan" when he should have written "caan".
At
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missee_Lee>
we find:

> Ransome visited China in 1926 and 1927, where he learned about Chinese life and culture. He also met, amongst others Soong Ching-ling, the wife of Sun Yat-sen.

By the time he wrote this novel,
perhaps he simply forgot his Chinese.

**Tags:** meaning, cantonese

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Chi fan is Mandarin, Cantonese speakers would normally say sik faan, 食饭. Perhaps chiu fan is 早饭, breakfast!  
> **username_2**: Since when has 晚飯 not been an acceptable synonym for 晚餐 in Mandarin or Cantonese? I would dare say that 晚飯 is actually the dominant form, and 晚餐 is more formal and restricted in use. <For reference, Min varieties generally use very different lexemes, such as 暝 and 暗頓, as the usual way of saying the evening meal.>  
> **username_3**: @username_1 I don't think Chiu Fan means早饭 in Cantonese, it sounds more like 炒饭  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2024-04-25. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

晚 maan5: evening, night

<https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk//Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E6%99%9A>

飯 faan6: cooked rice, meal

<https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk//Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E9%A3%AF>

so, "man fan." means dinner


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