吃喝 (chī hē) — food and drink; diet (colloquial)

Definition

noun

food and drinkdiet (colloquial)

吃喝，。
Tā měi tiān zhī guān xīn chī hē, bù xué xí.
He only cares about food and drink every day, not studying.
吃喝。
Chū mén zài wài yào zhù yì chī hē wèi shēng.
When traveling, pay attention to food and drink hygiene.
吃喝。
Tā huā le hěn duō qián zài chī hē shàng.
He spends a lot of money on food and drink.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

吃 means eat and 喝 means drink, giving food and drink.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

口乞吃

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

乞

乞qǐ吃chī

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

吃 combines 口 (mouth) with 乞, which gives the sound; it originally wrote a word meaning to stutter.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

口曷喝

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

曷

曷hé喝hē

Same sound today

The 口 part is a mouth. The 曷 part gives the sound.

Appears in