チャーハン

炒飯 (Chinese chǎofàn, Cantonese caau2 faan6) is the Chinese source form behind チャーハン. The characters mean "stir-fried" and "cooked rice." Seisenban Nihon Kokugo Daijiten gives a 1939 example from Furukawa Roppa's diary: he ate チャーハン at a night stall on June 11. Digital Daijisen also labels the word as Chinese and defines it as rice fried with pork, egg, and vegetables. Wiktionary lists Mandarin chǎofàn and Cantonese caau2 faan6 for the same spelling. The borrowing fits early Showa Chinese-restaurant vocabulary in Tokyo, Yokohama, and other cities where 中華料理 became a common menu category. Japanese already had 焼き飯, a native name for fried rice, so チャーハン entered beside ラーメン, ギョーザ, and シューマイ as a restaurant word with a Chinese identity. The meaning narrowed from Chinese 炒飯 in general to the Japanese-Chinese pan-fried rice served with soup or ramen sets. In modern Japanese, チャーハン usually means short-grain rice fried with egg, pork, onion, and soy sauce or salt. English "fried rice" is broader, while "Japanese fried rice" names the Japanese version. Chinese has many named types, such as 揚州炒飯 and 蛋炒飯. Overseas English also has chao fan or chow fan, but Japanese チャーハン is not from English. Example: チャーハンを一つください.