<p>In Mandarin, 食 is almost exclusively used as part of a two-syllable word like 饮食，食用，食品 and so on. It's basically never used as the verb "eat" in normal conversation, though it might show up in that sense in a very formal or written context.<br>
If you always use 吃 outside of fixed two-syllable words, you'll be on the safe side.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-04-11T12:02:16.400Z
2017-04-11T12:02:16.400Z
KWeiss
<p><strong>吃</strong></p>

<ol>
<li>Send things into the mouth to swallow, or rely on something to live: ～饭。～药。～斋。</li>
<li>destroy (used for military, chess): ～掉敌人一个连。</li>
<li>Suction: ～烟。</li>
<li>feel: ～惊。～紧。～一堑，长（zhǎng ）一智。</li>
<li>suffer: ～官司。</li>
<li>Support and support: ～不消。</li>
<li>depth of the hull into the water: ～水深浅。</li>
<li>was: ～那厮砍了一刀。</li>
<li>Talking stuttering: 口～。</li>
</ol>

<p><strong>食</strong></p>

<ol>
<li>吃：～肉。～欲。</li>
<li>eat something: ～品。粮～。零～。丰衣足～。</li>
<li>Salary: “君子谋道不谋～”。</li>
<li>The sun and the moon is missing or completely disappeared：月～</li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-10T12:05:47.113Z
No one really says 吃烟... a lot of your references are pretty obscure, and tangible at best.
Qwerp-Derp
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-05T17:51:11.413Z
2017-05-05T17:51:11.413Z
夜是美
<p><a href="http://dict.variants.moe.edu.tw/yitia/fra/fra04581.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://dict.variants.moe.edu.tw/yitia/fra/fra04581.htm</a>
食 is not only for none if you say it in different sound</p>

<p>i would use 食 in formal situation like  食用 eatable (used in article more)
吃 can be used in daily lives</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-04-11T06:32:31.890Z
2017-04-11T06:32:31.890Z
葉欣宸
<p>食 in Classical Chinese has (at least) 3 different meaning
1. To feed another person or animal
(In this case the pronouncing ion is ㄙˋ sì）</p>

<ol start="2">
<li>To eat (also can use 饌 in Classical Chinese)</li>
</ol>

<p>3 food</p>

<p>It's awesome that Cantonese preserved the classical way of using 食</p>

<p>In Mandarin, I think only the second meaning "to eat" is replaced with 吃 in daily conversation (in literature writing may or may not be different)
So if 食 is used as the noun FOOD then it's still 食
But when it describes eating, like 好吃， then it's 吃。 I'd say that in most daily conversation, mandarin speakers use only 吃 for the verb to eat, ate, eating… etc. 吃飯、吃飽、好吃、大吃特吃 But in writing, in order to be elegent, a writer may choose to use 食 instead of 吃， for example 「禁止飲食」。Same thing with the word 飲。</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-07T15:16:29.510Z
2017-05-07T15:16:29.510Z
Annelora Lavender
<p>吃，口语化，日常用语多些；食，文雅一点。<br>
这是从另外一个视野看这个问题。</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-10T12:07:08.533Z
1) Answers should be in English unless specified otherwise, 2) this answer doesn't really answer the question.
Qwerp-Derp
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-10T11:22:02.597Z
2017-05-10T11:22:02.597Z
scrapy
<p>I'm a native Cantonese speaker, so in Cantonese I use 食 as a verb and hardly ever use 吃, but in Mandarin, 吃 replaces 食 as the verb "to eat". Because of that I'm not sure when to use 食 in a correct grammatical sense in Mandarin.</p>

<p>I'm 100% sure 食 isn't just one of those Cantonese-only words (like 哋 or 唔) and is used in Mandarin, so my question is: when do I use 吃 and when do I use 食 in Mandarin?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-04-10T10:01:21.787Z
question answered by online dictionaries (which have many application examples) and sentence search engine jukuu, (食 is a noun as well as a verb)
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-04-10T15:18:48.233Z
＂现代汉语词典＂：食（１）吃：～肉｜应多～蔬菜。（２）专指吃饭：～堂｜废寝忘～。（３）人吃的东西：肉～｜面～｜副～｜消～开胃｜丰衣足～。（４）（～儿）一般动物吃的东西；饲料：猪～｜鸡没～儿了｜鸟儿出来找～儿。（５）供食用或调味用的：～物｜～油｜～盐。（６）月球走到地球太阳之间遮蔽了太阳，或地球走到太阳月球之间遮蔽了月球时，人所看到的日月亏缺或完全不见的现象：日～｜月～。（esp. see (4) 食儿, spoken language）
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-04-11T14:13:54.377Z
dictionaries (see e.g. comment #4) show that 食, whether used as verb or noun  is a bound morpheme （黏着语素），as dictionaries also show 吃   can be considered a free morpheme (自由语素),cf. jukuu:  别吃太多派。我从不吃菠菜。我们吃猪肉时蘸苹果汁。
user6065
<mandarin><cantonese>
吃 and 食 difference
# 吃 and 食 difference

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-04-10)

I'm a native Cantonese speaker, so in Cantonese I use 食 as a verb and hardly ever use 吃, but in Mandarin, 吃 replaces 食 as the verb "to eat". Because of that I'm not sure when to use 食 in a correct grammatical sense in Mandarin.

I'm 100% sure 食 isn't just one of those Cantonese-only words (like 哋 or 唔) and is used in Mandarin, so my question is: when do I use 吃 and when do I use 食 in Mandarin?

Thanks.

**Tags:** mandarin, cantonese

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: question answered by online dictionaries (which have many application examples) and sentence search engine jukuu, (食 is a noun as well as a verb)  
> **username_1**: ＂现代汉语词典＂：食（１）吃：～肉｜应多～蔬菜。（２）专指吃饭：～堂｜废寝忘～。（３）人吃的东西：肉～｜面～｜副～｜消～开胃｜丰衣足～。（４）（～儿）一般动物吃的东西；饲料：猪～｜鸡没～儿了｜鸟儿出来找～儿。（５）供食用或调味用的：～物｜～油｜～盐。（６）月球走到地球太阳之间遮蔽了太阳，或地球走到太阳月球之间遮蔽了月球时，人所看到的日月亏缺或完全不见的现象：日～｜月～。（esp. see (4) 食儿, spoken language）  
> **username_1**: dictionaries (see e.g. comment #4) show that 食, whether used as verb or noun  is a bound morpheme （黏着语素），as dictionaries also show 吃   can be considered a free morpheme (自由语素),cf. jukuu:  别吃太多派。我从不吃菠菜。我们吃猪肉时蘸苹果汁。  

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## 5 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2017-04-11. Score: 5

In Mandarin, 食 is almost exclusively used as part of a two-syllable word like 饮食，食用，食品 and so on. It's basically never used as the verb "eat" in normal conversation, though it might show up in that sense in a very formal or written context.  
If you always use 吃 outside of fixed two-syllable words, you'll be on the safe side.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2017-05-05. Score: 1

**吃**

1. Send things into the mouth to swallow, or rely on something to live: ～饭。～药。～斋。
2. destroy (used for military, chess): ～掉敌人一个连。
3. Suction: ～烟。
4. feel: ～惊。～紧。～一堑，长（zhǎng ）一智。
5. suffer: ～官司。
6. Support and support: ～不消。
7. depth of the hull into the water: ～水深浅。
8. was: ～那厮砍了一刀。
9. Talking stuttering: 口～。

**食**

1. 吃：～肉。～欲。
2. eat something: ～品。粮～。零～。丰衣足～。
3. Salary: “君子谋道不谋～”。
4. The sun and the moon is missing or completely disappeared：月～

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: No one really says 吃烟... a lot of your references are pretty obscure, and tangible at best.  

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### Answer by username_5 on 2017-04-11. Score: 0

<http://dict.variants.moe.edu.tw/yitia/fra/fra04581.htm>
食 is not only for none if you say it in different sound

i would use 食 in formal situation like 食用 eatable (used in article more)
吃 can be used in daily lives


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### Answer by username_6 on 2017-05-07. Score: 0

食 in Classical Chinese has (at least) 3 different meaning
1. To feed another person or animal
(In this case the pronouncing ion is ㄙˋ sì）

2. To eat (also can use 饌 in Classical Chinese)

3 food

It's awesome that Cantonese preserved the classical way of using 食

In Mandarin, I think only the second meaning "to eat" is replaced with 吃 in daily conversation (in literature writing may or may not be different)
So if 食 is used as the noun FOOD then it's still 食
But when it describes eating, like 好吃， then it's 吃。 I'd say that in most daily conversation, mandarin speakers use only 吃 for the verb to eat, ate, eating… etc. 吃飯、吃飽、好吃、大吃特吃 But in writing, in order to be elegent, a writer may choose to use 食 instead of 吃， for example 「禁止飲食」。Same thing with the word 飲。


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### Answer by username_7 on 2017-05-10. Score: -1

吃，口语化，日常用语多些；食，文雅一点。  
这是从另外一个视野看这个问题。

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: 1) Answers should be in English unless specified otherwise, 2) this answer doesn't really answer the question.  

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