餐

A phono-semantic compound composed of:

食 (“food, to eat”) — as the semantic element;

𣦼 ([⿰歺又], “to bore through, remainder”) — as the phonetic element.

The combination originally conveyed the act of taking food into the mouth and later extended to food itself or a meal.

Unlike many other complex graphs, 餐 has no distinct simplified form in modern Mainland Chinese; both traditional and simplified orthographies use the same character.

It carries a wide semantic field from ordinary meals (조찬, 만찬) to poetic asceticism (餐霞飲露), to moral metaphor (餐德).

Its structure expresses the physical act of taking in nourishment, while classical usage extends the meaning to spiritual cultivation and endurance.

Extended usage:

In Classical Chinese, 餐 commonly means “to eat, to take (a meal).”

It can also mean “to feed others,” or figuratively “to take in, to absorb,” as in 餐風飲露 — “to eat the wind and drink the dew,” a poetic idiom for living an austere or hermitic life.

The derived noun senses — “meal,” “food,” “repast” — are retained in modern usage (e.g., 早餐 breakfast, 午餐 lunch, 晚餐 dinner).

조찬 (早餐) — breakfast

중찬 (中餐) — lunch (rare; mostly 중식)

만찬 (晩餐) — dinner, banquet

찬품 (餐品) — dishes served at a meal

찬사 (餐事) — service relating to meals (rare/arch.)

간찬 (簡餐) — light meal (borrowed from Chinese)

찬반 (餐盤) — meal tray (borrowed form, niche usage)

Classical usage patterns:

餐 “to eat, to take food”

餐風 (“eat the wind”) - endure hardship

餐霞 (“eat rosy clouds”) - cultivate spiritual detachment

餐德 (“imbibe virtue”) - receive moral nourishment

Idiomatic expressions:

餐風飲露 — to endure austerity; ascetic life

餐松啖柏 — live on pine nuts and cypress bark (poetic asceticism)

1. Dichotomy of meanings (찬 vs. 손):

찬 (chan) — general sense of eating, meal.

손 (son) — watery rice, thin gruel, simple boiled food.

Reflects older Korean Buddhist/monastic context where softened grains were common.

Cultural aspects:

In Confucian writings, 餐 often appears in contexts representing:

- ritual meals

- offerings

- symbolic nourishment

- moral cultivation (德 as nourishment for the soul)

In Daoist writings, 餐 symbolizes transcendence:

- living on vapor and dew

- nourishing qi (氣) rather than the body

Classical Sources:

《莊子·逍遙遊》 (Zhuangzi, Free and Easy Wandering)

「餐霞飲露，不食五穀。」

“He eats the rosy clouds and drinks the dew, taking no grain as food.”

Here 餐 symbolizes spiritual sustenance — living lightly, free from worldly dependence.

《後漢書·班超傳》 (Book of Later Han – Biography of Ban Chao)

「大丈夫當掃除天下，豈可久事筆研，餐風宿水乎？」

“A real man should sweep clean the realm; how can he stay forever with brush and ink, eating the wind and sleeping by the waterside?”

“餐風” = “to eat the wind” → to endure harsh hardship.

《韓詩外傳》 (Han Shi Wai Zhuan)

「民得君子之教，如苗得時雨，餐德而生。」

“When the people receive the teaching of a noble man, they are like sprouts gaining timely rain — nourished by virtue and growing.”

“餐德” literally “to eat virtue,” meaning moral nourishment.

《文選·張衡〈西京賦〉》 (Wenxuan, Anthology of Literature)

「餐彼潔粻，以充吾饑。」

“I partake of that pure food to fill my hunger.”

Classical literal use of 餐 = to eat / to partake of a meal.