食
contributes the sense of food · Kangxi radical 184
contributes the sense of food, eating, and meals
食 began as a picture of a filled food vessel with a cover set over it: the top stroke and short slant are the lid, and the rest is the bowl standing on its foot with grain heaped inside. In the modern 食 you can still read the lid as the 人-like top and the body of the bowl below, which is why it looks like 良 with a cap. Characters like 餐 and 饔 keep the full 食 and all point to eating or cooked food, and even words for greed such as 饕 and 餮 use it for the mouth's appetite.
食 at a glance
- Meaning
- contributes the sense of food
- Strokes
- 9
- Characters
- 11
- Role
- Contributes meaning
- Kangxi radical
- 184
Characters with 食 (8 of 11)
HSK 5 · 1
Frequently asked questions
What does the component 食 mean?
食 means "contributes the sense of food". In the characters that contain it, it contributes meaning.
How many Chinese characters contain 食?
11 characters in this dictionary contain 食, including ones at HSK 5.
Is 食 a radical?
Yes — 食 is Kangxi radical 184, one of the 214 traditional indexing radicals used to organise Chinese dictionaries.
How many strokes does 食 have?
食 is written in 9 strokes.