bento

[ ben-toh ]

noun

, Japanese Cooking.

, plural ben·tos; Japanese ben·to.

1. a meal, usually served in a lacquered or elaborately decorated box that is divided into sections for holding individual portions of food.

bento

/ ˈbɛntəʊ /

noun

1. a thin box, made of plastic or lacquered wood, divided into compartments which contain small separate dishes comprising a Japanese meal, esp lunch

Word History and Origins

Origin of bento¹

< Japanese bentō, probably < Middle Chinese, equivalent to Chinese bān manage, provide + dāng apply, i.e., provision for an eat-out meal

Word History and Origins

Origin of bento¹

Japanese bentō box lunch

Example Sentences

I have seen my fair share of bento boxes scrolling through social media, but I always found them slightly absurd.

From The Daily Beast

These bento box-style containers keep your pre-prepared meals ready to eat all day.

From Popular-Science

From new heated lunch boxes to the convenient bento boxes you can toss down a flight of stairs without spilling a drop of soup, there are dozens of great ways to pack your food quickly and safely.

From Popular-Science

When packed right, a bento box looks like a delicious work of art.

From Popular-Science

Larger bento boxes exist, so don’t assume you need to go small.

From Popular-Science

News Bento: An aesthetically pleasing news aggregator that can hold as much news as you want to collect in it.

From The Daily Beast

Before we get to the tips, one little bento box of warning: Tokyo is expensive.

From The Daily Beast

About this time several windows in the car went up, and many voices took up the cry of "Bento."

From Project Gutenberg

After a stormy passage of six months, the Sam Bento cast anchor in the bay of Goa.

From Project Gutenberg

While Father Bento de Matos was in that island, two remarkable things occurred to him.

From Project Gutenberg

On the railway one is well catered for by the provision of bento (lunch) boxes, sold on the platforms of stations.

From Project Gutenberg

For example, in the ordinary 25-sen bento (lunch) box there are three or four different kinds of pickles.

From Project Gutenberg