弁当

Japanese

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'.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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

1. food brought on the go
2. bento (takeaway lunch served in a box)
3. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.
4. (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) 

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

References

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