ごはん
gohan
In Japanese, the English slang term "chow" can be translated as ごはん (gohan).
ごはん is used to refer to food or a meal in general. While it literally means cooked rice, ごはん is the standard word used to mean a meal in general.
Meaning: ''(slang)'' food, especially snacks (noun)
What does it mean word for word?
Literally, ごはん means "cooked rice", but it functions as the standard word for a meal.
Which one should you use?
When expressing the action of eating, you can use different verbs depending on the desired tone. 食べる is the standard way to say "to eat". In contrast, 食う and 食らう are much rougher, more masculine or slangy ways to say "to eat".
Related words
How do you pronounce it?
gohan
Did you know?
- If you use the rougher verb 食う, you are moving from the polite level of a dining room to the aggressive tone of a street fight or a gritty manga.
- When asking 'Have you eaten?' in a casual setting, Japanese speakers often use ごはん食べた？ as a way to say 'How are you?' or to start a conversation.
- Because ごはん literally means 'cooked rice', calling a meal 'rice' is a linguistic fossil from a time when rice was the absolute staple of the Japanese diet.
Example conversation
Yota and Misaki are studying together at home.
- 陽太 Yotaちょっと休憩して、ごはんにしない？chotto kyūkei shite, gohan ni shinai?Want to take a break and get some chow?
- 美咲 Misakiいいね！何があるかな。ii ne! nani ga aru kana.Sounds good! I wonder what we have.
- 陽太 Yota冷蔵庫に何かごはんがあると思うよ。reizōko ni nanika gohan ga aru to omou yo.I think there's some food in the fridge.
- 美咲 Misakiじゃあ、一緒に見に行こう。jaa, issho ni mi ni ikou.Then let's go look together.
