猪食 (zhū shí) — pig feed, swill

Definition

noun
pig feedswill

Examples

  • 猪食。
    Nóng mín měi tiān dōu yào zhǔn bèi zhū shí.
    The farmer has to prepare pig feed every day.
  • 猪食。
    Zhè xiē zhū shí kàn qǐ lái bú tài xīn xiān.
    This pig feed doesn't look very fresh.
  • 猪食。
    Tā mǎi le yí dài zhū shí huí jiā.
    He bought a bag of pig feed and went home.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

猪zhūpig
食shífood

猪 (pig) and 食 (food) mean feed or swill for pigs.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
犭Written in full as犬quǎndog
Sound part声符shēngfú
者
者zhě猪zhū
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

猪 combines 犭, a dog sign, with 者 as a sound part.

Open 猪 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

  • 亼亼jímouth
  • 皀皀jía bowl of rice on a stand

The form behind 食 shows 亼, a mouth, together with 皀, a bowl of rice on a stand. In modern 食, the bowl part has changed shape.

Open 食 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.