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.