Donburi is a deep bowl of rice with toppings placed on top: meat, fish, egg or vegetables. The word means both the vessel itself and the ready dish in it, and in the names of specific variants it is shortened to "-don".

What does "-don" mean in dish names like gyudon?

"-Don" is the shortened reading of the same kanji 丼 that names donburi as a whole. In compounds the sign is read どん, so 牛丼 is gyudon, 天丼 is tendon, 親子丼 is oyakodon: in every case it is a donburi with a specific topping.

What types of donburi are there?

The most common types are gyudon with beef and onion, oyakodon with chicken and egg, katsudon with tonkatsu and egg, tendon with tempura, kaisendon with raw fish, and unadon with unagi eel. The topping changes, but the construction — rice at the bottom, topping on top in one bowl — stays the same.

Why is oyakodon called "parent and child"?

親子丼 literally means "parent and child donburi": the dish combines chicken and egg, and a chicken and its egg are literally mother and offspring. The name describes not the taste or the cooking method, but precisely this kinship of the ingredients on the plate.

How does donburi differ from bento?

Donburi is a hot dish in one deep bowl, eaten on the spot right after preparation. Bento is a box with compartments for rice and various side dishes, assembled in advance and intended to be taken with you and eaten later, including cold.

Donburi: the Japanese bowl of rice with toppings

Donburi is a deep bowl of rice with toppings placed on top, and the whole thing is called by the same word. The kanji 丼 is read どんぶり and means exactly that kind of bowl: it has a rare form for a kanji — the character 井 "well" with a dot inside, as if something had fallen into it. In the names of specific dishes the word is shortened to "-don": 牛丼, 天丼, 親子丼.

Donburi is a rare case where a dish is named after the vessel rather than its contents: the bowl gave its name to everything served in it, and the kanji 丼 literally draws that vessel. Let's look at which types of donburi are most common — from gyudon to kaisendon, how donburi differs from bento, and why oyakodon is called "parent and child".

The bowl that gave the dish its name

Donburi is a deep bowl of rice with toppings placed on top: meat, fish, egg, vegetables. The word means both the bowl itself and the whole dish in it. In the names of specific dishes it is shortened to "-don": 牛丼 (gyudon), 天丼 (tendon), 親子丼 (oyakodon).

丼 — a picture-like sign: a well with a dot inside

The kanji 丼 is read トン, タン or どんぶり and is a picture-like sign rare in Japanese writing: it is 井 "well" with an added dot, as if something had fallen into it. It means the deep bowl itself, and the dish ends up named after the vessel rather than what was put into it.

The word どんぶり itself has two main theories of origin. One links it to 慳貪屋 (kendon'ya) — Edo-period shops that served a single portion without refills, and to the dishes from there called "kendomburi-bachi". The other theory is onomatopoeic: "don-buri" resembles the sound of something falling into water, and the shape of the character 丼 matches this theory well. Japanese dictionaries do not choose between them.

丼 — значение: deep bowl, dish in such a bowl — онъёми: トン、タン、ショウ、セイ — кунъёми: どんぶり — 5 штрих(ов). 丼 — "deep bowl" and "dish in it": on トン・タン, kun どんぶり. The sign is composed of 井 "well" with a dot inside — as if something had fallen into the well. In compounds it is read どん: 牛丼 (gyudon), 親子丼 (oyakodon), 天丼 (tendon).

Write 丼 along the guides — a rare picture-like sign that names both the bowl and the dish in it.

Gyudon, oyakodon, tendon: the main types of donburi

Inside the same bowl of rice only the topping changes, while the construction stays the same. The most common types:

牛丼 (gyudon) — thinly sliced beef with onion in a sweet-savory sauce.
親子丼 (oyakodon) — chicken with egg; the name means "parent and child", because the chicken and egg here are literally mother and offspring.
カツ丼 (katsudon) — tonkatsu with egg on rice.
天丼 (tendon) — tempura on rice, drizzled with tentsuyu sauce.
海鮮丼 (kaisendon) — raw fish and seafood on rice, without cooking or frying.
うな丼 (unadon) — unagi eel, grilled and glazed with sauce.

What all types share is the construction, not the taste

What unites all these dishes is not the taste or the sauce, but the construction itself: rice at the bottom, topping on top, all in one deep bowl, not on a flat plate and not in separate compartments.

Donburi and bento: a hot bowl versus a box to go

Donburi and bento are easy to confuse, though both are built around rice. Donburi is a hot dish eaten on the spot right after preparation: a bowl with rice and topping, one portion, one utensil. Bento is a box with compartments, prepared in advance and carried with you, and it can be eaten cold.

One bowl, one hand

Another difference is the food as a gesture: donburi is eaten with one bowl and chopsticks, without separating rice and topping onto plates, whereas in bento different foods are initially arranged in separate compartments.

Fast and alone: where donburi is ordered

Donburi is food ordered when you need something fast and alone. Gyudon chains keep ordering and serving to a matter of minutes: sit down, name the portion size, get a bowl — and continue your day. The format is designed for a visitor without company and without time for a conversation with a waiter.

Donburi in konbini and at the station

Ready-made donburi is also sold in konbini — in the refrigerator next to onigiri and bento, and you can heat it up right there in the microwave. At stations donburi is also found as ekiben, a ready dish for the road, only not in a box with compartments, but in the same logic of a single bowl.

FAQ

What is donburi?: Donburi is a deep bowl of rice with toppings placed on top: meat, fish, egg or vegetables. The word means both the vessel itself and the ready dish in it, and in the names of specific variants it is shortened to "-don".
What does "-don" mean in dish names like gyudon?: "-Don" is the shortened reading of the same kanji 丼 that names donburi as a whole. In compounds the sign is read どん, so 牛丼 is gyudon, 天丼 is tendon, 親子丼 is oyakodon: in every case it is a donburi with a specific topping.
What types of donburi are there?: The most common types are gyudon with beef and onion, oyakodon with chicken and egg, katsudon with tonkatsu and egg, tendon with tempura, kaisendon with raw fish, and unadon with unagi eel. The topping changes, but the construction — rice at the bottom, topping on top in one bowl — stays the same.
Why is oyakodon called "parent and child"?: 親子丼 literally means "parent and child donburi": the dish combines chicken and egg, and a chicken and its egg are literally mother and offspring. The name describes not the taste or the cooking method, but precisely this kinship of the ingredients on the plate.
How does donburi differ from bento?: Donburi is a hot dish in one deep bowl, eaten on the spot right after preparation. Bento is a box with compartments for rice and various side dishes, assembled in advance and intended to be taken with you and eaten later, including cold.
What does the sign 丼 mean?: 丼 means "deep bowl" and, more broadly, "dish in such a bowl". It is a picture-like sign rare in Japanese writing: 井 "well" with a dot inside, as if something had fallen into it. This shape of the sign matches well with the onomatopoeia "don-buri", one of the theories of the word's origin.

Sources

Updated: 2026-09-21