diner

diner — 名詞

1. a person who is having a meal, especially at a restaurant or other food-serving

1.名詞B1
釋義

用餐者

在餐廳吃飯的人

a person who is having a meal, especially at a restaurant or other food-serving place

例句

The diner at the next table complained that his steak was overcooked.

隔壁桌的用餐者抱怨他的牛排煎得太熟了。

countable noun with definite article + prepositional phrase

Most diners leave a tip of around fifteen percent for good service.

大多數用餐者會留下大約百分之十五的小費，作為對良好服務的回報。

同義詞
  • customer

    broader — anyone who pays for goods or services, not just food

  • patron

    more formal; implies a regular or supporting visitor

  • guest

    suggests an invited or welcomed visitor, often in a hotel or private setting

用法筆記

Often used in restaurant reviews or descriptions of dining settings. Commonly premodified by adjectives such as 'fellow', 'lone', 'hungry', or 'paying'.

常見錯誤

❌The diner served us quickly.' (when meaning the place)
✅The diner ate quickly.
💡'diner' as a person refers to someone eating, not the restaurant itself.

2. a small, inexpensive eating place, often with a long counter and booths, typical

2.名詞B1
釋義

平價餐館

美國常見的平價小餐館

a small, inexpensive eating place, often with a long counter and booths, typically found along roads or in small towns in the United States

例句

Eleni and Jude stopped at a roadside diner for burgers and milkshakes.

Eleni 和 Jude 在一間路邊小餐館停下來吃漢堡和奶昔。

roadside diner — typical location collocation

The diner on Maple Street serves huge plates of pancakes for just five dollars.

楓樹街那家平價餐館的煎餅份量很大，一份只要五美元。

同義詞
  • café

    more general; can range from simple to upscale

  • eatery

    informal and broad; not specific to any style

  • greasy spoon

    very informal, sometimes negative, suggesting low quality

用法筆記

Primarily used in American English. British English more commonly uses 'café' or 'caff' for a similar concept. The word often carries a nostalgic or retro connotation of mid-20th-century American culture.

常見錯誤

❌We ate at a diner in London.' (in British context)
✅We ate at a café in London.
💡'diner' is strongly associated with US-style casual restaurants.

3. a carriage on a passenger train where meals are served to passengers during the

3.名詞B2
釋義

餐車

火車上供應餐點的車廂

a carriage on a passenger train where meals are served to passengers during the journey

例句

The train's diner had white tablecloths and fresh flowers on every table.

那列火車的餐車每張桌子上都鋪著白色桌布、擺著鮮花。

possessive: train's diner

Quan walked through three passenger cars to reach the diner for lunch.

Quan 穿過三節客車車廂，走到餐車去吃午餐。

同義詞

用法筆記

Exchangeable with 'dining car' in most contexts. This sense is the historical origin of sense 2 — many roadside diners were originally built from repurposed railroad dining cars.