sūn
飧
dinner; evening meal (literary)
Tone colorsmāmámǎmàma
Meanings
1 sense · 3 examplesnoun
dinner; evening meal (archaic/literary)
archaicClassical Chinese term for the evening meal. In ancient times, people typically had two meals a day: 饔 (yōng, breakfast) and 飧 (sūn, dinner). Now used only in literary contexts or set phrases.
Gǔ古
rén人
rì日
jìn进
liǎng两
cān餐
，
cháo朝
yuē曰
yōng饔
，
xī夕
yuē曰
sūn飧
。
The ancients ate twice a day: the morning meal was called 'yong' and the evening meal was called 'sun'.
Pán盘
sūn飧
shì市
yuǎn远
wú无
jiān兼
wèi味
，
zūn樽
jiǔ酒
jiā家
pín贫
zhǐ只
jiù旧
pēi醅
。
The market is far, so my plate lacks variety of food; my home is poor, so my flask contains only old brew.
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Zhè这
shì是
jiǎn简
dān单
de的
pán盘
sūn飧
，
bù不
chéng成
jìng敬
yì意
。
This is a simple dinner; please don't take it as a formal gesture of respect.