Meaning
eat; eradicate; destroy; receive; eat; stammer
Chinese: 吃食物；也表示承受、消耗。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “chi” becomes a different word in each tone. 吃 is the 1st tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 吃饭chī fànto have a meal; to eat; to make a living
- 好吃hǎo chītasty; delicious
- 吃惊chī jīngto be startled; to be shocked; to be amazed
- 小吃xiǎo chīstreet food; snack
- 吃亏chī kuīto suffer losses; to come to grief; to lose out; to get the worst of it
Example Sentence
我喜欢吃妈妈做的菜。Wǒ xǐ huan chī mā ma zuò de cài.I like to eat the food my mom makes.
我WǒI喜欢xǐ huanto like吃chīto eat妈妈mā mamama做zuòto make的deof菜càivegetable。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
The mouth radical 口 (meaning) plus 乞 (qǐ, sound): an action of the mouth — ‘to eat’.
A way to remember it
A mouth (口) doing the work — to eat.
Easy to confuse with
- 乞‘To beg’: the sound part of 吃, without the mouth radical.