饣
marks a character as having to do with food · Kangxi radical 184 · variant of 食
marks a character as having to do with food, eating, and cooking
This is the squeezed left-hand form of 食 "food", whose old graph showed a footed bowl heaped with grain, covered by a lid drawn as a pointed roof on top. In the full character you can still see that pointed cover over a bowl shape. The simplified 饣 is that picture written fast: the little dot or stroke at the top is what remains of the lid, and the hooked stroke below is the collapsed bowl. So 饭 is cooked rice, 饱 is eating till full, and 饺 is a dumpling — all bowl-and-lid words.
饣 at a glance
- Meaning
- marks a character as having to do with food
- Strokes
- 3
- Characters
- 42
- Role
- Contributes meaning
- Kangxi radical
- 184
- Variant of
- 食
Characters with 饣
HSK 1 · 2
HSK 3 · 2
HSK 6 · 8
Beyond HSK · 26
Frequently asked questions
What does the component 饣 mean?
饣 means "marks a character as having to do with food". In the characters that contain it, it contributes meaning.
How many Chinese characters contain 饣?
42 characters in this dictionary contain 饣, including ones at HSK 1, HSK 3, HSK 4, HSK 5, HSK 6.
Is 饣 a radical?
Yes — 饣 is Kangxi radical 184, one of the 214 traditional indexing radicals used to organise Chinese dictionaries.
How many strokes does 饣 have?
饣 is written in 3 strokes.