Example sentences
zhè这jiā家fàn饭diàn店de的cài菜hěn很hǎo好。
The food at this restaurant is very good.
wǒ我men们zhù住zài在zhè这ge个fàn饭diàn店。
We're staying at this hotel.
The story behind the character
饭
饭 is 饣 (food) with 反 on the right, which is there for the sound. Xu Shen defined it as 饭, 食也, to eat, and the noun meaning came along with it. The traditional 飯 has the full 食 on the left. So 米饭 is cooked rice, 饭馆 is an eating house, and both of them are built on that old word for food.
店
店 is 广, the roof radical, with 占 giving the sound. 广 covers buildings, the same piece you find in 床, 座, 庭, 庙. Xu Shen never listed 店; his dictionary has the related 坫 instead, and 店 is a later coinage. Early dictionaries call it a lodging house, 旅舍曰店. Selling moved in afterward, and 商店 kept the roof.