Writing Balance Rule: Keep the top roof/lid element compact and centered, ensuring the lower parts flare out gracefully while maintaining vertical alignment.
1. Meaning
to eat
foodanimal feedeclipse (historical usage, e.g. solar/lunar eclipse)
Verb / Nounliterary / formal#food and drink#daily life#biology
Sample Usage
食言
shí yán
to break one's word (literally: to eat one's words)
粮食
liáng shi
grain, food supplies
2. Sound
/[ʂʐ̩³⁵]/Tone: 35
食
shíshi2
|
++
´(35)
=shí
Initial Consonant
sh
Type: Retroflex Fricative
Sounds like: sh sound as in 'shoe' with retroflex tongue curling
UnaspiratedRetroflex
Airflow Tactile Test: Hollow wind sound through curled tongue channel.
Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip curled back near the hard palate
Final Rhyme
i (-i*)
Vowel Group: -a vowel group
Sounds like: apical vowel sound buzzing behind the teeth
Note: Written as 'i (-i*)', pronounced as rounded 'i' [y].
Mouth Shape Guide: Combine initial 'zh-' (jr) with final '-i' (rr/zz).
Common Learner Trap: Do NOT pronounce '-i' as 'ee' after zh-! Keep your tongue in the consonant position and buzz 'rr/zz'.
Tone
T2 (35)
3 → 5 (35)
2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 rises like a question mark in English, moving upward from middle pitch to high pitch.
👂
Listening trap: Confusing the retroflex 'sh-' initial with the dental alveolar 's-' initial. Ensure the tongue is curled back and not flat against the teeth ridge.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 2 starts at a mid pitch and rises upward quickly like an inquisitive English question: 'What?'
3. Writing
Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 9 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: Keep the top roof/lid element compact and centered, ensuring the lower parts flare out gracefully while maintaining vertical alignment.
4. Components
Radical食 · Food Radical (food, eating)
Semantic Clue (形旁):食 (represents food and eating actions)
Originally depicted a covered food container on top of legs or a base, representing cooked food ready to be served and eaten.
𠫓 lid or cover
良 base container element
5. History
Liushu category: Pictogram (象形)
Origin: In Oracle Bone scripts, '食' was drawn as a shaped vessel or container piled high with grains or food, topped with a cover.
Semantic Evolution: Originally meant a food vessel or cooked food itself, then extended to the verb meaning 'to eat', and later to terms involving sustenance and solar/lunar eclipses (where the sun or moon was thought to be 'eaten' or devoured by a celestial beast).
When used as a radical on the left side of a Chinese character, it morphs into the compressed form '饣'.
6. Sinosphere
🇯🇵
Kanji (Japanese)
On: ショク / ジク / Kun: く.らう / た.べる
🇰🇷
Hanja (Korean)
식
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story
Imagine a covered serving dish on the table filled with delicious food. When you lift the lid, you are ready to eat (食)!
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
蚀
shíeclipse, erosionAdds the insect/bug radical on the left (虫), representing bugs eating away at something or a celestial eclipse.
饲
sìto feed (animals)Uses the simplified food radical (饣) plus secretary/company part (司) for feeding livestock.
Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)
良(liáng)
'良' (good) lacks the top covering lid elements and lower base structure found in the full food character '食'.
8. Mastery
Active Recall Challenge
民以___为天。
Clue: shí
Common Learner Pitfall
Confusing the standalone full character '食' with its compressed left-side radical form '饣' used in compound characters like 饭 or 饿.
Memory Prompts
Recognition: What does the character 食 mean when you encounter it in literary phrases or compound words like 粮食?
Production: How do you write the character for 'to eat / food' with 9 strokes?
Real-World Video Context
Watch authentic native speakers pronounce and explain this word in real-world YouTube videos.
Search theme
Accent preference
Results are live YouTube search — accents and levels aren't verified.
食shífood
Speed:
Searching YouTube for native pronunciation videos...