早饭(zǎo fàn) - breakfast in Mandarin

早饭 (zǎofàn) is breakfast, from 早 (zǎo, "early") plus 饭 (fàn, "cooked rice, meal"). Mandarin builds all three main meals the same way, swapping the time-of-day character in front of 饭 (fàn): 早饭 (zǎofàn) for breakfast, 午饭 (wǔfàn) for lunch, 晚饭 (wǎnfàn) for dinner. Learn the pattern once and all three come for free.

The more formal near-synonym is 早餐 (zǎocān), which uses 餐 (cān, "meal") instead of 饭 (fàn); you will see 早餐 (zǎocān) on hotel signs and restaurant menus, while 早饭 (zǎofàn) is what people actually say at home. Both are correct and interchangeable in everyday speech.

早 (zǎo) alone doubles as the standard morning greeting, short for 早上好 (zǎoshang hǎo), "good morning", so do not be surprised to hear it used two different ways in the same conversation: once as a greeting, once as the "early" in 早饭 (zǎofàn).