Character Familiestop / bottom

食shí, sì, yì

to eat; food; an eclipse of the sun or moon

食 is food and eating: 食品 'food', 零食 'snacks', 粮食 'grain'. 日食 'solar eclipse' uses the eating sense — the sun getting 'eaten'.

GF0025–2021 character list · 二级
One character pageAll readings and linked senses stay together.

top / bottom

The cached 说文 account: 从皀、亼声 — a cover (亼 jí) over a grain bowl (皀 bī). The modern top is written like 人 over a fused bowl-shaped bottom.

top / bottom · 食

WHOLE CHARACTER

食shí, sì, yì

to eat; food; an eclipse of the sun or moon

食 is food and eating: 食品 'food', 零食 'snacks', 粮食 'grain'. 日食 'solar eclipse' uses the eating sense — the sun getting 'eaten'.

The cached 说文 account: 从皀、亼声 — a cover (亼 jí) over a grain bowl (皀 bī). The modern top is written like 人 over a fused bowl-shaped bottom.

TOP: THE COVER PIECE, WRITTEN LIKE 人

人rén

person; people

Repeated in 众.

In 食: top: the cover piece, written like 人 The old account reads the top as the cover 亼 (jí); the word rén is not taught here.

BOTTOM: THE FUSED GRAIN-BOWL PIECE (THE OLD 皀 BĪ)

残底

Notice this part of the shape; it is not taught as a separate word in this lesson.

In 食: bottom: the fused grain-bowl piece (the old 皀 bī) A fused seven-stroke bottom; no standalone piece is readable today.

shíTone 2
  • to eat
  • food
  • an eclipse of the sun or moon
  • 食品shípǐnfood product
  • 食物shíwùfood
  • 零食língshísnacks
  • 粮食liángshigrain; food
sìTone 4classical; dictionary use
  • to give food to; to feed (classical)

An old causative use; the source's example 食母 is not common modern vocabulary. No learner words.

No common modern word is offered for this reading; the dictionary sense remains in Sources.

yìTone 4dictionary; name use
  • used in the personal name 郦食其 (Lì Yìjī)

Used only in the Han-dynasty scholar's name 郦食其 (Lì Yìjī). No learner words.

No common modern word is offered for this reading; the dictionary sense remains in Sources.

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