Word.ws English Dictionary

bento box

Syllables: ben·to box/ˈbɛntəʊ ˌbɒks//ˈbɛnˌtoʊ ˌbɑks/

bento box noun: a partitioned, traditionally lacquered, lunchbox in which a bento (“Japanese takeaway lunch”) is served.

bento box: a partitioned, traditionally lacquered, lunchbox in which a bento (“Japanese takeaway lunch”) is...
Image: かう, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

bento box (plural bento boxes)

  1. A partitioned, traditionally lacquered, lunchbox in which a bento (“Japanese takeaway lunch”) is served.
    • My heart was filled with covetousness as I saw the fine old lacquer bento boxes which they produced after carefully removing many silk wrappings.1895 April, Alfred Parsons, “Autumn in Japan”, in Harper’s Monthly Magazine, volume XC, number DXXXIX, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 772, column 2
    • At every important station, boys walk along the platform carrying large trays and shouting "Bento," (prolong the o). The hungry traveler opens the window and buys a neat parcel, consisting of two wooden boxes and a long narrow envelope [containing chopsticks]. […] One of the wooden boxes is full of...1918 March 7, Lloyd Balderston, “Children’s Corner. Letters from Japan.”, in J. Henry Bartlett, editor, The Friend. A Religious and Literary Journal, volume 92, number 19, Philadelphia, Pa.: [s.n.]...
    Synonyms:
    bento
  2. Synonym of bento (“a Japanese takeaway lunch served in a box”).
    • [M]arvelous vegetable sushi—slivers of cucumber and carrot and threads of ginger rolled in cooked rice, then in leaves of seaweed and dusted with roasted white sesame seeds—which I ate one evening at Anzu, a restaurant that serves, to Dallas's satisfaction, its bento boxes with a Texas twang.1994 September, Fred Ferretti, “A Gourmet at Large: Lone Star Chefs and Cookbook Pleasures”, in Gail Zweigenthal, editor, Gourmet: The Magazine of Good Living, volume LIV, number 9, New York, N.Y....
    • NAGANO […] Bento boxes are a great value, and there is a full sushi bar as well.2005, “Destination Edmonton [Lodgings & Restaurants]”, in TourBook: Western Canada & Alaska […], Heathrow, Fla.: AAA Publishing, →OCLC, page 420
    Synonyms:
    bento

Examples of bento box in a sentence

  • To name the contents of a bento box and tell what each thing is made of requires an extensive knowledge of Japanese cookery.1918 March 7, Lloyd Balderston, “Children’s Corner. Letters from Japan.”, in J. Henry Bartlett, editor, The Friend. A Religious and...
  • He daily carries to the office a bento box filled with rice and some pickled plums, and during the past 40 years he has ever stuck to his Spartan lunch.1918 April 13, “Fearless Japanese official”, in The Evening Examiner, volume LX, number 87, Peterborough, Ont.: [Peterborough Examiner]...
  • For twenty cents apiece, Kato bought us three bento boxes.1935, George F. Pierrot, “The Great Buddha among the Cherry Blossoms”, in The Vagabond Trail: Around the World in 100 Days, New York, N.Y....
  • Like a lacquered bento box, the Zenlike hotel offers an array of delights imbued with natural color and texture, all contained in interlocking enclosures.2002 September, William Weathersby, Jr., “At the W Hotel in Times Square, Designer Yabu Pushelberg Creates Spare, Richly Textured...

Synonyms of bento box

Forms of bento box

pluralbento boxes
alternative formbentō box

Origin of bento box

From bento + box. Bento is borrowed from Japanese 弁(べん)当(とう) (bentō, “food to be eaten on the go; takeaway lunch served in a box”).

Questions about bento box

What does bento box mean?
Bento box means a partitioned, traditionally lacquered, lunchbox in which a bento (“Japanese takeaway lunch”) is served.
How do you use bento box in a sentence?
To name the contents of a bento box and tell what each thing is made of requires an extensive knowledge of Japanese cookery.
What part of speech is bento box?
Bento box is a noun.
How do you pronounce bento box?
Bento box is pronounced /ˈbɛntəʊ ˌbɒks/ (UK).
What is the plural of bento box?
The plural of bento box is bento boxes.

Words near bento box in the dictionary

  1. Bentleys
  2. Bently
  3. Bentlys
  4. bentness
  5. bento
  6. bento box
  7. bento boxes
  8. Benton
  9. Benton City
  10. Benton County
  11. Benton Station

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bento box (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

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Cite this entry: “bento box.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bento_box. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.