斋 (zhāi): to fast / abstain from meat and…

Meanings

1 to fast / abstain from meat and alcohol
2 vegetarian diet (Buddhist)
3 study room or studio (literary)
4 to give alms to monks

Characters

斋

zhāi

fast / vegetarian / study room

Examples

她每月初一都吃斋。

Tā měiyuè chūyī dōu chī zhāi.

She eats a vegetarian diet on the first of every month.

这家寺庙提供免费的斋饭给信众。

Zhèjiā sìmiào tígōng miǎnfèi de zhāi fàn gěi xìn zhòng.

This temple provides free vegetarian meals to devotees.

Tips

culture

In Chinese Buddhist practice, 吃斋 (chī zhāi) refers to observing a vegetarian diet as a form of religious devotion. Many lay Buddhists eat vegetarian on the 1st and 15th of the lunar month. 斋戒 (zhāijiè) means a full religious fast. The character also appears in 书斋 (shūzhāi), a scholar's study.

Components

radical

文 wén

pattern; markings

The top 文 is the indexing Kangxi radical for the simplified 斋. Originally 齋 was a complex graph for ritual abstinence built around 示 (altar); the reform replaced its upper portion with 文 as a phonetic-and-lookup anchor for the new compact shape.

semantic

而 ér

beard; and

The bottom 而-shape is a stylized residue of the traditional 齋's lower body, including the original 示 (altar) component. It carries the 'fasting, ritual purity, study chamber' core meaning that 斋 preserves in 斋戒 and 书斋 (study).