弁当

Japanese

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

弁当

Wikipedia ^ja

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Bentō

Wikipedia

A typical bento

A homemade bento

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

Alternative spelling
辨當 (kyūjitai)

Alternative forms

(honorific) お弁当(べんとう), 御弁当(おべんとう) (o-bentō)

Etymology

/bentau/ → /bentɔː/ → /bentoː/

Borrowed from Chinese 便當／便当 (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'.

This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.
Particularly: “Expand etymology, such as a short history of the bento; citation needed since it's common "knowledge" that Mandarin got the word from Japanese.”

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) べんとー [bèńtóꜜò] (Nakadaka – [3])^[1]
IPA^(key): [bẽ̞nto̞ː]

Noun

弁(べん)当(とう) • (bentō) ^{←べんたう (bentau)^?}

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

弁当(べんとう)箱(ばこ) (bentō-bako)
駅弁(えきべん) (ekiben)
キャラ弁(べん) (kyaraben), キャラ弁当(べんとう) (kyara-bentō)

Idioms

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

Descendants

→ Cantonese: 便當／便当 (bin⁶ dong³)
→ English: bento
→ Hokkien: 便當／便当 (piān-tong)
→ Indonesian: bento
→ Korean: 벤토 (bento)
→ Mandarin: 便當／便当 (biàndāng)
→ Russian: бэнто́ (bɛntó), бэ́нто (bɛ́nto)

Noun

弁当(べんと) • (bento)

(dialectal, Kagoshima) bento (takeaway lunch served in a box)

References

^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

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

[DJR-1] Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[1]