好吃 (hǎo chī) — tasty, delicious | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

The everyday word for 'tasty' — works for any food. 美味 and 可口 are more formal/written; 鲜 highlights freshness.

adjective

tastydelicious

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.

好 adds pleasantness and 吃 refers to eating, giving pleasant to eat.

Characters in this word

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

女子好

好 joins 女 (woman) and 子 (child), understood as a woman with a child, linked to goodness or affection.

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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