bento

2 5.3

A Japanese boxed meal with rice, meat or fish and vegetables

noun
/ˈbɛn.toʊ/

: bento

For example, Hamamatsu Station's Hama No Kama-Meshi Bento comes with its own spoon.
bento box

So every day she packed me a hot lunch in this like, Bento box Tupperware that was stacked.

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Examples

Morioka Station's Buna no Ki Bento (Beech Tree Box Lunch) honors the trees that grow mushrooms on their bark.

Academic text (1994)
The Wafu Kasane Bento commemorates the building of the Tohoku Shinkansen Line.

Academic text (1994)
I left you a bento box.

Babel (2006)
Rise comes in search of her bento, which is with Leo.

Blog text (1)
Such giant chains did not replace bento; instead, they exist alongside them.

Academic text (1994)
Since you suggested we exchange homemade bentos, I put some effort into it.

The Creep (2024)
That's my fried-chicken bento, Azuki.

Sympatico (2020)
At the top of my rotation is Samurai Bento, on Southwest Alder Street between Ninth and 10th avenues.

Blog text (2)
OK, so for my first Bento box, I'm putting some rolled ham into the protein compartment, some Ritz crackers for the grains.
For lunch, I had a delicious bento filled with grilled salmon, rice, and vegetables.

How Filling

feast

179 1.9

bento

2 5.3

snack

440 1.0

Surface Forms

bento singular

bentos plural

Etymology

The word bento comes from Japanese bento, often said as obento, and means a 'packed meal in a box'; think of a neat lunch box with rice, fish or meat and vegetables that you carry to work or school. That's why bento can mean both the meal and the box that holds it.