米
In Cantonese, rice can be translated as 米, 飯 or 白飯. Wiktionary also lists 飯 / 饭 (faan⁶) and 白飯 / 白饭 (baak⁶ faan⁶).
Meaning: seeds used as food (noun)
Ways to say it
| Cantonese | Romanization (Wiktionary) |
|---|---|
| 米 | |
| 飯 / 饭 | faan⁶ |
| 白飯 / 白饭 | baak⁶ faan⁶ |
Use 米 for the raw, uncooked grains. Use 飯 when referring to cooked rice or to a meal in general. For example, the phrase 食飯 is commonly used to mean 'to eat a meal' rather than just eating the grain itself.
Which one should you use?
Use 米 to refer to raw, uncooked rice grains. Use 飯 to refer to cooked rice or a meal in general.
Did you know?
- In Cantonese culture, asking 你食咗飯未? ('Have you eaten rice yet?') is often used as a friendly greeting similar to 'How are you?' rather than a literal question about hunger.
- In some traditional Cantonese idioms, the word 飯 is used to denote a person's livelihood or 'rice bowl', making the phrase 'breaking the rice bowl' a metaphor for losing one's job.
- Cantonese uses the word 飯 to describe a 'meal' in general, meaning you can 'eat rice' (食飯) even if you are actually eating noodles or pasta.
Examples in context
- 今日有咩飯餸？(gam1 jat6 jau5 me1 faan6 sung3?)What rice dishes are available today?
- 6 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Ka欣 and 家明 are in the kitchen preparing a meal.
- 嘉欣 Ka Yan我哋仲有冇米？ngo5 dei6 hung6 jau5 mou5 mai5?Do we have any more rice?
- 家明 Ka Ming好似冇喇，我要去買。hou2 ci5 mou5 laa3, ngo5 jiu3 heoi3 maai5.It seems we're out, I need to go buy some.
- 嘉欣 Ka Yan記得買啲長米。gei3 dak1 maai5 di1 coeng4 mai5.Remember to buy some long-grain rice.
- 家明 Ka Ming好，我而家就去。hou2, ngo5 ji4 gaa1 zau6 heoi3.Okay, I'll go right now.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “rice” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
