TongTong
Sign in

肉食 (ròu shí) — meat, meat products (as food); carnivore, meat-eater (animal or person)

Definition

Literally 'meat-food', covering both the food itself (meat as something you eat) and an animal/person that eats meat. For the diet, contrast with 素食 (vegetarian).

noun
meatmeat products (as food)carnivoremeat-eater (animal or person)

Examples

  • 肉食，。
    ròu shí Zuò wéi shí wù, shì hěn duō rén yǐn shí zhōng de zhǔ yào bù fen.
    As a food, meat is a major part of many people's diet.
  • 肉食。
    Lǎo hǔ hé shī zi dōu shì ròu shí dòng wù.
    Tigers and lions are both carnivorous animals.
  • 肉食。
    ròu shí Zhě xū yào zhù yì yíng yǎng píng héng.
    Meat-eaters need to pay attention to balanced nutrition.

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.

肉ròumeat
食shífood

肉 gives meat and 食 gives food, so it names meat as food or meat-eating.

Characters in this word

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

The original shape of 肉 showed ribs of an animal’s torso, or simply a slice of meat.

Open 肉 →

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
Meat & Seafood

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