难吃 (nán chī) — tastes bad, not tasty, unpalatable

Definition

Plain adjective for food that tastes bad — everyday negative of 好吃, neither polite nor literary.

adjective

tastes badnot tastyunpalatable

难吃。
Zhè ge cài zhēn de hěn nán chī.
This dish really tastes bad.
难吃，。
Zhè jiā cān tīng de fàn tè bié nán chī, wǒ yǐ hòu bù lái le.
The food at this restaurant is especially bad-tasting; I won't come again.
，。
Mā ma zuò de cài yì diǎn yě bù nán chī, hěn hǎo chī.
The food Mom makes isn't bad-tasting at all; it's very delicious.

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.

难nándifficult

难 means difficult and 吃 means eat, so 难吃 describes food that is hard to eat.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 難; 难 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

隹隹zhuībird

Sound part声符shēngfú

暵

暵hàn難nán

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

The traditional 難 pairs 隹, a bird, with 暵 for sound, and meant a type of bird. It was later borrowed for other meanings; the modern 难 is a shorthand.

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.

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