As we all know, rice is a very common food in China. We eat it all the time! If you look at the amount of chopsticks we use it to eat every year, you can see it is a staple in our diet and our life. There are many rice paddies in China, and much of our land is used to grow this food. Rice is a part of our daily life and has also become a big part of our vocabulary.
That’s why vocabulary surrounding rice in China can have a few meanings. One expression that we may hear in daily life is "饭桶 (fàntǒng)". In one sense it just means rice bucket. But some people also use it to describe a certain type of person: a good-for-nothing!
Let’s break this word down more so we can fully understand its meaning:
饭桶 (Fàntǒng): n. rice bucket; good-for-nothing.
饭 (Fàn): n. rice.
桶 (Tǒng): n. bucket.
If you want to use this phrase in a sentence in the most literal sense of the word, then you can use it this way:
Wǒmen yīnggāi bǎ mǐfàn zhuāng zài fàntǒng lǐmiàn.
我 们 应 该 把 米饭 装 在 饭 桶 里 面。
We should put the rice in the bucket.
Sometimes, you may hear someone use it to describe a person who is particularly incompetent at a task or just at life in general. For examples:
Tā jiùshì yí gè fàntǒng, gēnběn bú huì zhàogù biérén.
他 就 是 一 个 饭 桶， 根 本 不 会 照 顾 别 人。
He is a good for nothing and doesn’t know how to take care of others at all.
In the cases above, this word was used to be negative or as a joke in a specific context. I try to use it mostly as... Read More
Quiz:
1. Read the sentence below and choose which answer matches with the correct meaning of "饭桶"?
Nǐ zhēnshi gè fàntǒng a, zhème jiǎndān de tí dōu bú huì!
你 真 是 个 饭 桶 啊, 这 么 简 单 的 题 都 不 会！
A. A rice bucket.
B. A good-for-nothing person.
C. A watering bucket.
D. A clever person.
See Answer Analysis
