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食 means 'eat' or 'food'

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Strokes : 9    Radical number: 184    Frequency: 142   JLPT: N5    Usefulness: 1    Study set: 1-3    Grade: 2   Intermediate lesson: 3    Beginner lesson: 12   Begins 294 words   Used in 731 words   Used in 93 names   Component in 19 kanji (1 Jōyō)
Jōyō (常用)
Common readings
On
   ショク   ジキ
Kun
   food   たべる to eat   くう to eat
Additional readings
Kun    くらう   はむ
Name    ぐい
Variants
饣 (Chinese)   ⻠ (Chinese)   ⻟   ⻝   ⾷ (Chinese)   ⻞   飠   𩙿  
Notes
Many forms exist with slight variations for use as components (eg: ⻝ (eat; food) ⻟ (eat; food)𩙿 (eat; food)). Other forms exist which are visually identical but have different Unicode code points.
Find out about the "food" radical populating kanji such as 飲 (drink), 館 (building), and 飼 (raise animals), and see why any of those things have a connection to food.
Components
⿱  𠆢 (人) man  良 good  
Explore these components visually on The Kanji Map ⇗
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Flashcards
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Most useful words by reading
In the most useful 10,000 words in Japanese, 食 is used 45 times, read 4 ways (with 1 variation).
Across all words in Japanese, 食 is used 675 times, read 5 ways (with 3 variations).
Showing:
ショク : 430 words FIND ALL
し ょ く じ 0
noun
1. meal
2. to eat
(click the word for examples and links)
ジキ : 19 words FIND ALL
だ ん じ き 4
Most common form: だんじき
fasting
(click the word for examples and links)
ショク (read as しょっ) : 14 words FIND ALL
し ょ っ き 0
noun
tableware
(click the word for examples and links)
くう : 137 words FIND ALL
く う 1
'u' godan verb, transitive verb
1. to eat  (male term or language)
2. to live; to make a living; to survive
(click the word to view an additional 7 meanings and 3 forms, useful expressions, examples and links)
たべる : 37 words FIND ALL
た べ る 2
ichidan verb, transitive verb
1. to eat
2. to live on (e.g. a salary); to live off; to subsist on
(click the word to view an additional 2 forms, examples and links)
くう (read as ぐ) : 29 words FIND ALL
り ぐ い 0
profit-taking  (finance term)
(click the word for examples and links)
はむ : 8 words FIND ALL
は み だ す 3 は み だ す 0
'su' godan verb, intransitive verb
to protrude; to stick out; to hang out; to jut out; to bulge out; to overflow; to be forced out; to be crowded out; to be pushed out; to exceed; to go over; to go beyond
(click the word to view an additional 2 forms, examples and links)
はむ (read as ば) : 1 word FIND ALL
む し ば む 3
Most common form: 蝕む
'mu' godan verb, intransitive verb
1. to be worm-eaten; to be eaten by worms
2. to affect adversely; to spoil; to ruin; to undermine; to gnaw at (one's heart, body, etc.); to eat into; to destroy
(click the word to view an additional 2 forms, examples and links)
An additional 58 less common words include 食 but the reading has not yet been categorized.
Quick links
QUICK SEARCH WORD SEARCH KANJI SEARCH COMPONENT SEARCH Find kanji that refer to 食
More information
Wiktionary ⇗ | Unicode.org ⇗ | Google Japan ⇗ | Hanziyuan etymology ⇗
Additional data
Henshall: 163 (originally: 146)  Joy o' Kanji : 146  Key to Kanji: 561 

Cascading kanji view

食
ショク   ジキ    food   たべる to eat   くう to eat   
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良
リョウ   よい good   
ジン   ニン   ひと man   
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