弁当

Japanese

A typical bento

A homemade bento

Kanji in this term
弁	当
べん Grade: 5	とう Grade: 2
goon

Etymology

/bentau/ → /bentɔː/ → /bentoː/

Borrowed from Mandarin 便當 (biàndang, “convenient”).

The use of 弁 for ben is an example of phonetic ateji (当て字), due to 便 having another sense of "human excrement'.

Pronunciation

On’yomi: Goon
- (Tokyo) べんとー [bèńtóꜜò] (Nakadaka – [3])[1]
- IPA^(key): [bẽ̞nto̞ː]

Noun

弁当 (shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai kanji 辨當, hiragana べんとう, rōmaji bentō, historical hiragana べんたう)

food brought on the go
bento (takeaway lunch served in a box)
This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.
(law) Synonym of 執行猶予 (shikkō yūyo): a suspended sentence

Derived terms

お弁 (べん)当 (とう), 御 (お)弁 (べん)当 (とう) (o-bentō)
弁 (べん)当 (とう)箱 (ばこ) (bentō-bako)
駅弁 (えきべん) (ekiben)
キャラ弁 (べん) (kyaraben), キャラ弁 (べん)当 (とう) (kyara-bentō)

Idioms

弁 (べん)当 (とう)を使 (つか)う (bentō o tsukau, “use a bento → eat a bento”)

Descendants

Chinese:
- Mandarin: 便當 (biàndāng)
- Cantonese: 便當 (bin6 dong1)
- Min Nan: 便當 (piān-tong)
→ English: bento

References

2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN

2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, →ISBN.

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