🇨🇳Chinese Source WordCode: ZH

食堂

Pronunciation / Transliteration: shítáng

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Mess hall/ˈmɛs hɔl/
nounCEFR B2 (Upper)Top #14200 frequency
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🇨🇳 Example Sentence in Chinese:

"士兵们在军营的食堂里吃午饭。"

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

1 sense
As noun
  1. 1

    A large room or building in a military camp, naval base, or institution where personnel eat meals together.

    "The soldiers gathered in the mess hall for breakfast before starting their morning training."

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Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

The term combines 'mess', originating from Old French 'mes' (a portion of food, from Latin 'missus'), denoting a group eating together, and 'hall', from Old English 'heall', meaning a large room or building. Originally used in naval and military contexts from the 18th century, it evolved to describe the communal dining facility for military personnel.

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