食 — how to write the kanji for “eat”
食 (“eat” and “food”) is a JLPT N5 kanji taught in second grade in Japan. In newspapers it is the 328th most used kanji. As one of the 214 traditional radicals it heads 97 kanji in KANJIDIC2. On its own it is the word shoku, “food; foodstuff”. You will meet it in 食事 (“meal”), 食品 (“food”) and 食料 (“food”). Chinese reads it shí, “to eat”, at HSK 4.
- Strokes
- 9
- JLPT
- N5
- Radical
- 食 (“eat”)
- On
- ショク, ジキ
- Kun
- く·らう, た·べる, く·う
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- Left-falling stroke ㇒topdown and left
- Right-falling stroke ㇏topdown and right
- Vertical ㇑topdownwards
- Horizontal-turn ㇕leftrightwards → downwards
- Horizontal ㇐centerrightwards
- Horizontal ㇐centerrightwards
- Vertical-rising ㇙leftdownwards → up and right
- Left-falling stroke ㇒rightdown and left
- Right-falling stroke ㇏bottomdown and right
Japanese and Chinese
The two models differ in shape, so our comparison does not claim an order; compare the numbered frames yourself (9 strokes in Japanese, 9 strokes in Chinese).
Under the radical 食
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Readings
- On (Chinese-derived)
- ショク shoku, ジキ jiki
- Kun (native)
- く·らう ku-rau, た·べる ta-beru, く·う ku-u (rare), は·む ha-mu (rare)
- Meanings
- eat; food
- School year
- second grade
- Newspaper rank
- 328th of 2,500 (KANJIDIC2)
- Korean hanja
- 식 sik
- Common words
- 63 in JMdict
Words with 食
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 食事 | しょくじ shokuji | meal; diet |
| 食品 | しょくひん shokuhin | food; food products |
| 食料 | しょくりょう shokuryou | food |
| 食糧 | しょくりょう shokuryou | food; provisions |
| 昼食 | ちゅうしょく chuushoku | lunch; midday meal |
| 夕食 | ゆうしょく yuushoku | evening meal; dinner |
| 給食 | きゅうしょく kyuushoku | provision of lunch; providing a meal |
| 飲食 | いんしょく inshoku | food and drink; eating and drinking |
| 朝食 | ちょうしょく choushoku | breakfast |
| 食堂 | しょくどう shokudou | dining room; dining hall |
Most common first (JMdict).
Practice sheet
Print at 100%. Several kanji: worksheet maker.
Keep going
JLPT N5, in list order: