Meal Times

飯

ご飯

ご飯はん (Gohan) is the word for cooked rice (米 for uncooked rice). However, since it is an essential part of Japanese cuisine, it is also used to mean a meal. The ご~ is honorific and 飯 is rice, however 飯 used informally is read 飯めし (Meshi) and not just “han”, without the  ご prefix.

朝あさご飯はん ・ 朝あさ飯めし
Breakfast / Asagohan / Asameshi

朝 (Asa) means morning. So morning + meal = breakfast.

昼ひるご飯はん ・昼ひる飯めし
Lunch / Hirugohan / Hirumeshi

昼 (Hiru) means noon.

晩ばんご飯はん ・晩ばん飯めし
Dinner / Bangohan / Banmeshi

晩 (Ban) means evening/night.

Side note: The “go” in gohan originally has the Kanji 御, however we can use the Hiragana ご due to avoid complexity.

Read more on gohan vs. meshi usage on StackExchange.

Read about honorific usage in the Japanese language over here.

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