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素食 (sù shí) — vegetarian food; to be a vegetarian, to eat a vegetarian diet

Definition

Refers to a vegetarian diet or the food itself (often as a lifestyle). 蔬菜 means the vegetables themselves — the raw ingredient, not the diet. 素 is a shorter, more literary form of the same idea.

vegetarian foodto be a vegetarianto eat a vegetarian diet
Measure word · 种

Examples

  • 素食。
    Zhè jiā chāo shì yǒu xīn xiān de sù shí mài.
    This supermarket sells fresh vegetarian food.
  • 素食。
    Yuè lái yuè duō de rén xuǎn zé sù shí shēng huó fāng shì.
    More and more people choose a vegetarian lifestyle.
  • 素食。
    Zhè jiā cān tīng de sù shí wèi dào hěn hǎo.
    The vegetarian food at this restaurant tastes great.

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.

素sùvegetarian
食shífood

素 means vegetarian and 食 means food, so it refers to vegetarian food or eating such food.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 素 came from a picture of hands braiding thread.

Open 素 →

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 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6Food (General)

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