What does 吃 mean in Chinese?

吃 (chī) means "to eat" in Chinese. The new HSK exam expects you to recognise it at HSK 1.

How do you write 吃?

吃 is written with 6 strokes, starting from the 口 (mouth) radical and following standard Chinese stroke order (top to bottom, left to right). See the interactive stroke-order tool for the full animation.

What is the radical of 吃?

The radical of 吃 is 口 (mouth, Kangxi radical #30). Other common HSK characters using the same radical include 可, 告, 后, 名.

How many strokes does 吃 have?

The Chinese character 吃 has 6 strokes.

What HSK level is 吃?

On the new HSK exam syllabus, 吃 is a character to recognise at HSK 1.

吃 (chī): Meaning, Stroke Order, Radical & Examples

吃

chī

to eat

HSK 1 character 6 strokes Radical: 口 (mouth)

Quick Answer

吃 (chī) means "to eat" with 6 strokes, radical 口 (mouth), HSK 1 on the new exam.

Full dictionary entry for 吃 →Animated stroke-order for 吃 →

Pronunciation

chī

Meaning

Primary: to eat

Etymology

Oracle-bone origin

吃 is a phono-semantic compound, not an ancient pictograph. It combines 口 (mouth) as the semantic component with 乞 (qǐ, to beg) as the phonetic component. The character does not appear in oracle bone script in its modern sense; the meaning 'to eat' was historically carried by 食.

Form evolution

Because 吃 is a later formation built from two already-stable components, it has no distinct oracle bone or bronze form of its own. 口 traces back to a clear pictograph of an open mouth in 甲骨文, and 乞 derives from 气 (vapour rising). The two were combined in the regular script period, and the modern 楷书 form has remained stable.

How the meaning evolved

In Classical Chinese, 吃 originally meant 'to stammer' or 'stutter', a meaning still preserved in the compound 口吃 (kǒuchī, stuttering). The sense of 'to eat' was borrowed into 吃 much later, gradually displacing 食 in spoken Mandarin while 食 retained more formal and literary use. Today 吃 is the default verb for eating, and the stammer sense survives only in fixed compounds.

Cultural note

Learners often assume 吃 has always meant 'eat', but 食 is the older and more literal character for eating and is still what you see in words like 食物 (food) and 饮食 (diet). The 口 radical reflects the mouth-based actions 吃 has always described, whether stammering or chewing.

Mnemonic

A mouth begging — to eat

Decomposition

吃=口radical+乞component

Breaking a character into its components makes it far easier to recall. Each component above links to its own detail page.

Basic info

Pinyin	chī
Meanings	to eat
Stroke count	6 strokes
Radical	口 (#30: mouth)
New HSK exam	Recognise at HSK 1
Frequency	#166 most common

Example sentences

我想吃面条。
Wǒ xiǎng chī miàntiáo.
I want to eat noodles.
From 吃 (HSK 1)
这个很好吃。
Zhège hěn hǎochī.
This is very delicious.
From 好吃 (HSK 1)
我买了小吃。
Wǒ mǎi le xiǎochī.
I bought snacks.
From 小吃 (HSK 4)

Words containing 吃

Word	Pinyin	Meaning	HSK
吃	chī	to eat	HSK 1
好吃	hǎochī	delicious	HSK 1
吃惊	chījīng	Be amazed	HSK 4
小吃	xiǎochī	snack	HSK 4
吃亏	chīkuī	Suffer	HSK 7-9
吃饭	chīfàn	to eat (a meal)
吃苦	chīkǔ	to bear hardships	HSK 7-9
吃力	chīlì	to entail strenuous effort	HSK 7-9