Skip to content

kanin

kánin with stress marks

cooked rice

noun verb KA-nin Native origin Less Common
Illustration of "kanin" (cooked rice)

Usage Note

Kanin refers to rice that has been cooked, distinguishing it from bigas (raw grains). As the primary staple food in the Philippines, it is served at almost every meal and is central to Filipino culture.

Examples

Beginner

" Masarap ang mainit na kanin. "

Natural Translation

Hot rice is delicious.

Literal Translation

Delicious the hot rice.

Intermediate

" Gusto ko ng maraming kanin. "

Natural Translation

I want a lot of rice.

Literal Translation

Want I of plenty rice.

Advanced

" Kapag walang kanin sa hapag, parang hindi pa kumpleto ang hapunan ng pamilya namin. "

Natural Translation

When there's no rice on the table, it feels like our family's dinner isn't complete yet.

Literal Translation

When no-have rice on table, like not yet complete the dinner of family our.

Free · iOS & Android

Take Tagalog with you

The full course, a 12,500-word dictionary, and flashcards that make every word stick — free to start on iOS and Android.

Tagalog builds thousands of words from a few hundred roots.

How Tagalog words work

Derived Words

Actor Focus Verbs

Object Focus Verbs

Explore Tagalog by topic

Free guides on grammar, vocabulary, and culture to take you past single-word lookups.