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绝食 (jué shí) — to fast (for health, religious, or dietary reasons); to go on a hunger strike (as a protest)

Definition

Refusing to eat as a deliberate act — either for health/religious fasting or as a political protest (hunger strike). The protest meaning is the distinctive sense in modern news usage.

verb
to fast (for health, religious, or dietary reasons)to go on a hunger strike (as a protest)

Examples

  • 绝食。
    Tā wèi le jiàn kāng jué dìng jué shí yí gè yuè.
    He decided to fast for a month for his health.
  • 绝食。
    Qiú fàn men tōng guò jué shí lái kàng yì bù gōng píng de dài yù.
    The prisoners went on a hunger strike to protest unfair treatment.
  • ，。
    Tā jué le sān tiān shí, shēn tǐ yǐ jīng hěn xū ruò le.
    He fasted for three days, and his body is already very weak.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

绝juécut off
食shífood

绝 means to cut off or stop, and 食 is food or eating, so the word means to stop eating.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 絕; 绝 is its simplified writing.

In the traditional form 絕, 刀 (knife) and 幺 (silk) show a knife cutting silk threads. The simplified 绝 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the original picture.

Open 绝 →

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
Religion & BeliefSociety & Public Life

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