Hangul Syllable Bab

Cooked grain first, then any meal by extension.

In food talk 밥 is cooked grain, usually rice; other grains get named in compounds. It is not 쌀, which is uncooked grain. A 2022 corpus study found the meal sense more frequent than the literal cooked-grain sense in its data.

So translate by situation: at the table it can be rice on the spoon, in daily speech it is often lunch, dinner, or food in general.

Did someone send 밥 먹었어?

Usually they are showing care or opening a meal plan.

As of 2026, 밥 먹었어? still does two jobs. Around a meal it asks literally and can lead to plans; as a passing text or call opener it is a warm check-in, like asking if you are doing okay. Answer simply and do not read it as a confession.

Watch the ending, not the noun. 밥 먹었어? is casual, 밥 먹었어요? is polite, and 식사하셨어요? is more respectful toward someone senior.

Where did 밥 come from?

The word predates its modern Hangul spelling by centuries.

A 2021 historical-linguistic study traces pap to Jilin leishi, compiled after a 1103 visit to Korea, where Chinese characters transcribe the Korean word. That study calls the deeper baby-talk origin for food a proposal, not a settled fact.

Hangul itself was made for easy everyday Korean writing, explained in its 1446 edition. So 밥 is an old food word dressed in a 15th-century alphabet, later stretched into livelihood talk like 밥벌이.