饥 (jī) — (bound form) hunger; starve; (bound form) famine

Definition

饥 is a bound morpheme meaning 'hungry/famine' that only appears inside set phrases like 饥荒 (famine) or 饥肠辘辘 (stomach growling with hunger). It is not used as a standalone word.

bound form

hungerstarvefamine

Examples

。
Nà ge dì qū fā shēng le dà jī huang.
A great famine occurred in that region.
，。
Tā gōng zuò le yì zhěng tiān, jī cháng lù lù.
He worked all day, his stomach growling with hunger.
，饥。
Zài nà zhǒng qíng kuàng xià, tā jī bù zé shí.
Under those circumstances, he was so hungry that he grabbed whatever food he could get.

Origin

Sound + meaning

六书liùshū

形声xíngshēng

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 飢; 饥 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 饥 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (饥饿) it is 飢; in others it is 饑.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

食食shí

Sound part声符shēngfú

几

几jǐ飢jī

Same sound today

The traditional form 飢 uses 食 for food and 几 for the sound; the simplified 饥 is a shorthand.

Appears in

Food (General)

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