流食 (liú shí) — liquid diet (semi-fluid food, often for patient…

Definition

noun

liquid diet (semi-fluid food, often for patients or recovery)

流食。
Yī shēng jiàn yì tā chī liú shí.
The doctor advised him to eat a liquid diet.
，流食。
Shǒu shù hòu, bìng rén zhǐ néng hē liú shí.
After surgery, the patient can only drink liquid food.
，流食。
Nǎi nai nián jì dà le, měi tiān dōu xū yào chī liú shí.
Grandma is old and needs to eat liquid food every day.

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.

流 means liquid and 食 means food, so it names liquid diet.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

㐬

㐬㐬流liú

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

流 has 水, water, and 㐬, which gives the sound. The water part matches meanings such as flow.

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

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.