(shí wù) - food, foodstuff in Mandarin

shíwù

Traditional: 食物

HSK 4

#821 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

food, foodstuff

Word origin

A compound of 食 (shí) 'to eat, food' and 物 (wù) 'thing, matter'. 食 is a pictograph of a vessel of food under a lid; 物 is a phono-semantic compound with 牛 (cow) as radical and 勿 (wù) as phonetic. Together they mean foodstuff.

Origin: compound
Root: 食 (shí, food) + 物 (wù, thing: 牛 cow radical + 勿 phonetic)

Stroke order

食

物

Examples

。

The food at this restaurant is delicious.

。

We need more food.

。

She does not eat meat food.

鲜xiān。

The food at this restaurant is very fresh.

。

Please do not waste food.

食物 (shí wù) means food, foodstuff. It is used as a noun in everyday Mandarin speech.

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Mandarin · Free printables

食物: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "食物" (food, foodstuff): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 17.