早饭
zǎo fàn · HSK 1
breakfast
🍳🌅 早 = early + 饭 = meal; early-meal = breakfast
早 means early/morning (sun 日 over the horizon line). 饭 is cooked rice / meal. Together they literally read early-meal, which is breakfast. Compare 午饭 (noon-meal = lunch) and 晚饭 (late-meal = dinner).
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.
饭 — food radical 飠/饣 + 反 fǎn (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 饣 (simplified from 飠, 'eat/food') gives the meaning, while 反 on the right hints at the sound. Originally referring to cooked grain, it broadened to mean cooked rice and, by extension, a meal in general.