The invention relates to the field of chemical heating equipment, and discloses a lateral-feed falling-film evaporator including a shell body, a pipe plate, evaporation pipes and a liquid supply device, and the pipe plate is arranged on the upper part of the shell body; a plurality of evaporation pipes are vertically arranged in the shell body, and the upper ends of the evaporation pipes pass through the pipe plate; the upper ends of the evaporation pipes are provided with a flow guiding device; the liquid supply device comprises a liquid inlet groove and branched feed pipes, and the liquid inlet groove is vertically arranged at the upper part of the outer wall of the shell body and surrounds the whole shell body; the liquid inlet groove is uniformly provided with a plurality of branched feed inlets; the branched feed inlets are formed on the upper side wall of the liquid inlet groove, the lower ends of the branched feed pipes vertically pass through the branched feed inlets and extend into the liquid inlet groove, and the lower ends of the branched feed pipes are close to the bottom of the liquid inlet groove; the shell body is provided with a plurality of overflow channels communicating with the liquid inlet groove. The lateral-feed falling-film evaporator has the advantages of simple and compact structure, and effectively shrinks the height of the device; the lateral-feed falling-film evaporator has the advantages of large liquid flowing amount, and convenience in operation and maintenance; and with use of the device, the liquid distribution rate is high, the film distribution is uniform, and the device is not easy to block and is easy to clean.