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节食 (jié shí) — to go on a diet, to diet (restrict food intake)

Definition

Means deliberately eating less to lose weight or for health. Note the separable pattern: 在节食, 节了三个月的食. Compare with 减肥, which focuses on the goal of losing weight itself.

verb
to go on a dietto diet (restrict food intake)

Examples

  • 节食，。
    Tā zuì jìn zài jié shí, bù chī tián shí.
    She's on a diet lately and doesn't eat sweets.
  • ，。
    Wèi le jiǎn féi, tā jié le sān gè yuè de shí.
    To lose weight, he dieted for three months.
  • 节食，。
    Yī shēng jiàn yì wǒ jié shí, duō chī shū cài.
    The doctor advised me to go on a diet and eat more vegetables.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

节jiérestrict
食shífood

节 means to restrict, and 食 means food, so the idea is restricting what one eats.

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 節; 节 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
⺮Written in full as竹zhúbamboo
Sound part声符shēngfú
即
即jí節jié
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 節 pairs ⺮ (bamboo) with 即, which gives the sound; the bamboo part points to a node of bamboo. The simplified 节 is a later abbreviation.

Open 节 →

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
Fitness & Exercise

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