晚饭(wǎn fàn) - dinner in Mandarin

晚饭 (wǎnfàn) is dinner, from 晚 (wǎn, "evening, late") plus 饭 (fàn, "cooked rice, meal"), completing the same three-meal pattern as 早饭 (zǎofàn, "breakfast") and 午饭 (wǔfàn, "lunch"). It is the meal Chinese families treat as the main sit-down occasion of the day, more so than lunch, which is often eaten at work or school on a fixed schedule.

吃晚饭 (chī wǎnfàn), "to eat dinner", and 做晚饭 (zuò wǎnfàn), "to cook dinner", are both everyday phrases you will use constantly once you are living day to day in Mandarin. The formal written alternative is 晚餐 (wǎncān), the counterpart to 早餐 (zǎocān) and 午餐 (wǔcān).

晚 (wǎn) also appears alone in greetings and set phrases: 晚安 (wǎn'ān), "good night", and 晚上好 (wǎnshang hǎo), "good evening", both use it for "evening" or "late" in a way that has nothing to do with food, so do not assume every 晚 (wǎn) you see is heading towards a meal.