In English: eat
Word origin: 吃 is a verb, usage is the same as "eat", as the 口 (mouth) in the character implies.
In English: (to) eat, (to) dine, (to) eat rice
Word origin: 饭 originally means cooked rice. The term吃饭means more than just "eating cooked rice",it refers to "eating a meal" or to "dine" - mostly associates with the daily meals.
In English: (to) eat
Word origin: 东originally means "east" and 西"west". These two directions are normally represented by open arms to indicate the vast coverage between the out-stretched left (representing 东 "east") and right (representing 西 "west"). The term东西 thus bears the meaning of "that from east and west" to refer to things in general, object and food alike. 吃东西 means eating something, it could be formal meal or just snacks.
In English: (to) suffer, (to) endure, (to) take on a difficult task/job/work/responsibility
Word origin: 苦a word composed of a grass head 艹 and the character for old 古, roughly means
old grass, which tends to carry a bitter taste when chewed on. 吃苦 means "to eat/eating that is bitter", and the meaning is extended to represent "to wallow down the bitterness", and is further stretched to cover the meaning of "to suffer" and "to endure" the difficult situations.
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Hey Grace, great article as usual.
ReplyDeleteA couple of months back I learned this character using the Heisig method - which is all about creating images associated with each of the components, and piecing them into a story.
I wrote an article about my progress at the time, and this is one of the stories in there, where I spoke about the 吃 character:
I had a really sad moment ... 乞 means "beg", and I used a clear image of a prostrate begger with a hook instead of a hand (look at the image and see why). But the very next character is 吃 (to eat) - and the image naturally took the "beg" scenario and extended it to this crippled starving guy wanting to put food in his mouth. Such a depressing image! (I hope I don't create an eating-disorder for myself as a result :-)