干饭

• Pinyin: gàn fàn
• Hanzi breakdown: 干 (do vigorously) + 饭 (meal) -> get down to eating.

Meaning

To eat with enthusiasm, often with a joking sense of "time to feast."

It is cheerful, informal, and often used before meals or when someone is hungry. It can also suggest focusing on eating with no hesitation.

Examples

1. 会议一结束，大家就冲去干饭。 As soon as the meeting ended, everyone rushed off to eat.
2. 别聊工作了，先干饭再说。 Let’s stop talking about work and eat first.
3. 今天食堂有红烧肉，必须干饭。 There’s braised pork in the canteen today, so I have to eat.

Usage Guide

Context: friends, school, workplace

Tone: playful, energetic

Do Say

• 走，干饭去！（Come on, let's eat!）
• 忙了一上午，终于能干饭了。（After a busy morning, we can finally eat.）

Don't Say

• 在正式宴会致辞里说各位干饭。（Too slangy for a formal banquet speech.）

Common Mistakes

• Reading it as dry rice; in slang it means enthusiastically eating.

Origin & History

Revived in online speech from colloquial Chinese, where 干 can mean to do something energetically.

Cultural Context

Era: 2020s

Generation: Gen Z and Millennials, now mainstream

Social background: Students and office workers

Regional notes: Common throughout Mainland China online and offline.