Where 吃 comes from
mouth
- Meaning part
- 口 (“mouth”)
- Sound part
- 乞 (“to beg”)
How to write 吃 (chī, “to eat”)
吃 (chī), an HSK 1 character, means “to eat”, “to eat at” and “to eradicate”. It pairs a meaning part, 口 (“mouth”), with a sound part, 乞 (“to beg”). On its own it is an HSK 1 word; it also forms 好吃 (“tasty”), 小吃 (“street food”) and 吃惊 (“to be startled”). Japanese reads it domo-ru, “stammer”.
- Pinyin
- chī
- Strokes
- 6
- HSK
- 1
- Radical
- 口 (“mouth”)
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
As a left-right character it splits into 口 (“mouth”, the radical), strokes 1–3; 乞 (“to beg”), strokes 4–6, written the left part first.
- Vertical ㇑top leftdownwards
- Horizontal-turn ㇕leftrightwards → downwards
- Horizontal ㇐leftup and right → rightwards
- Left-falling stroke ㇒topdown and left
- Horizontal ㇐toprightwards
- Horizontal-turn-curve-hook ㇈centerrightwards → down and left → rightwards
Japanese and Chinese
Japanese and Chinese draw all 6 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Pinyin and meaning
| Pinyin | Meanings | Traditional | In words |
|---|---|---|---|
| chī first tone | to eat; to consume; to eat at (a cafeteria etc); to eradicate; to destroy; to absorb; to suffer (shock, injury, defeat etc) | — | 好吃 小吃 吃惊 大吃一惊 |
- HSK 2025 syllabus
- level 1
- 2021 standard
- level 1
- HSK 2.0
- in a level 1 word
- Words with it
- 145 in CC-CEDICT
Words with 吃
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 吃 | chī | to eat; to consume HSK 1 |
| 好吃 | hǎochī | tasty; delicious HSK 1 |
| 小吃 | xiǎochī | street food; snack HSK 4 |
| 吃惊 吃驚 | chījīng | to be startled; to be shocked HSK 4 |
| 大吃一惊 大吃一驚 | dàchī-yìjīng | (idiom) astounded; flabbergasted HSK 6 |
| 口吃 | kǒuchī | to stammer; to stutter HSK 7-9 |
| 吃喝玩乐 吃喝玩樂 | chī-hē-wán-lè | to eat, drink, play and be merry (idiom); to abandon oneself to a… HSK 7-9 |
| 吃力 | chīlì | to entail strenuous effort; to toil at a task HSK 7-9 |
| 吃苦 | chīkǔ | to bear hardships HSK 7-9 |
| 吃亏 吃虧 | chīkuī | to suffer losses; to come to grief HSK 7-9 |
HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).
Practice sheet
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Keep going
HSK 1, in list order: