What does the kanji 食 mean?

The kanji 食 (kū) means "eat, food". It is a JLPT N5 character.

"kū" is written with the kanji 食, meaning "eat, food". Its readings are onyomi (Chinese-derived) しょく (shoku), じき (jiki), kunyomi (native Japanese) くう (kū), たべる (taberu). It is a JLPT N5 character.

How do you write the kanji 食?

Write 食 ("eat") by following the correct stroke order. Use the interactive, step-by-step stroke order animation on this page to practise each stroke in sequence and build muscle memory.

What are the readings of 食?

食 has these readings: onyomi (Chinese-derived) しょく (shoku), じき (jiki), kunyomi (native Japanese) くう (kū), たべる (taberu).

食“eat” Kanjikū / shoku

JLPT N5

How to write 食

食 (eat) kanji stroke order diagram with numbered strokes

Meaning and readings

Meaning

eat, food

Onyomi (音読み)

しょく shoku
じき jiki

Chinese reading

Kunyomi (訓読み)

く（う） ku(u)
た（べる） ta(beru)

Japanese reading

Practice 食 on paper — a printable tracing grid with stroke order

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Example sentences using 食

Human-reviewed sentence pairs from the Tatoeba corpus, with readings shown above the kanji.

何なにも食たべたくないんです。
I don't want to eat anything.
食べ (たべ)
JP#2518669bytommy_sanEN#1830599byCKCC BY 2.0 FR Tatoeba Project
よーし、今日きょうは食くうぞお。
Right then, I'm going to stuff my face today!
食う (くう)
JP#11029490bysmall_snowEN#13700891byterrywallworkCC BY 2.0 FR Tatoeba Project
夕食ゆうしょく後ごは外出がいしゅつしてはいけません。
You must not go out after dinner.
夕食 (ゆうしょく)
JP#79072bytommy_sanEN#324645byCKCC BY 2.0 FR Tatoeba Project