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Yomi
にちじょうさはんじ
Rōmaji
nichijou sahanji
Type
idiom
Literal Meaning
daily tea rice thing
Meaning
a common or daily event
Synonym
通常運転
Antonym
前代未聞
Additional Info
It comes from the fact that many Japanese people eat rice and drink tea almost every day. Sometimes it is used ironically to indicate a negative incident that is not supposed to happen frequently. For instance, “残業は日常茶飯事だ” means “working overtime is like an everyday event”.
Note that while 茶 usually reads “ちゃ”, it reads “さ” in this expression. This reading is used in a few other words including 茶道 (さどう, “tea ceremony”) and 喫茶店 (きっさてん, “cafe”)
Example
キャンパスでBBQ食べれるなんてすごくない？
なあに、オーストラリアでは日常茶飯事だよ
Isn’t it great that we can have BBQs on campus??
Well, it is very common here in Australia.
彼(かれ)が遅刻(ちこく)するのは日常茶飯事だ
It is quite usual that he comes late.
Related Post
‘No Tea’ Means ‘Crazy’? Japanese Words/Idioms Related to Tea (茶)