食物 (shí wù) — food | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Most general word for 'food' — anything you eat, fresh or packaged. 食品 emphasizes processed/packaged food products; 美食 is specifically delicious food.

noun

food

Measure word · 种

Easily confused

实物shí wùsound-alike(noun) concrete object, physical item

Examples

食物，。
Zhè zhǒng shí wù hěn xīn xiān, nǐ kě yǐ fàng xīn chī.
This kind of food is very fresh; you can eat it safely.
食物。
Chāo shì lǐ de shí wù zhǒng lèi hěn duō.
There are many kinds of food in the supermarket.
食物。
Mā ma zǒng shì mǎi jiàn kāng de shí wù.
Mom always buys healthy food.

Origin

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.

The sense of 食 as food and 物 as thing combine to mean food.

Characters in this word

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.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

牛勿物

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

勿

勿wù物wù

Same sound today

物 puts 牛 beside 勿: 牛 gives the meaning, and 勿 gives the sound.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 4 HSK 2.0 Level 5 Food (General)2000 Most Frequent Chinese Words 3000 Most Frequent Chinese Words 5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

Browse more HSK 4 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.