早餐
zǎocān · HSK 2
breakfast
🌅🍳 早餐 = 早 (early) + 餐 (meal) — the early meal
早 means early/morning and 餐 means meal or food. Together 早餐 literally reads as early-meal, the standard word for breakfast. Compare 午餐 (noon-meal = lunch) and 晚餐 (evening-meal = dinner) — same 餐 anchor.
早 — sun 日 + ten 十 (originally 甲, a helmet/sprout)
Originally depicted the sun 日 rising above a sprouting plant or a person's head, suggesting the early morning when the sun first appears. The lower component was simplified over time into 十. The core meaning 'morning, early' has remained stable since oracle bone script.
餐 — 歺 (bone fragment) + 又 (hand) + 食 (food)
Originally a phono-semantic compound showing a hand (又) taking food from bones (歺), with 食 (food) as the meaning component. The top portion 'cǎn' provides the sound, while 食 indicates the meaning of eating. Over time it came to mean 'meal' or 'to eat.'