to feed
English · to feed
to feed (animals), to raise, to rear
- 饲养 动物 需要 耐心。sìyǎng dòngwù xūyào nàixīn.Raising and feeding animals requires patience.
- 农民 每天 早晨 喂饲 家禽。nóngmín měitiān zǎochén wèisì jiāqín.Farmers feed poultry every morning.
Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 8 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (饣) is compressed and occupies about one-third of the width, leaving the right side (司) wider and balanced with its horizontal and boxed structure.
Simplification Logic: The traditional left-side radical 食 (food) is simplified into 饣 when used as a component.
Radical 饣 · Food radical (Food, eating, nourishment)
Semantic Clue (形旁): 饣 (Indicates that the action relates to food or feeding.)
Phonetic Clue (声旁): 司 (original sound: sī)
Food (饣) combined with the official/manager (司) who takes charge of managing and distributing rations to animals.
- 饣 food or feeding
- 司 phonetic clue providing the 'sì' sound
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
9· Phonetic Root: 司 (sī)Origin: Combined from the semantic element for food (食) and the phonetic element (司) which originally represented someone in charge or managing.
Semantic Evolution: Originally meant providing food or provisions to people or animals, later specialized primarily into raising, rearing, and feeding livestock.
- In ancient agricultural society, ensuring livestock had enough grain to eat was vital for survival and farming success.
An official manager (司) walks out to the barn carrying a big bucket of food (饣) to FEED the animals.
sìMistaking the left radical for the water radical (氵) or mixing it up with 词 (word) because of the identical phonetic component 司.
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