<p>喂 means <em>feed(verb)</em> originally besides answering telephone. </p>

<p>Regarding the origin of the character, according to <a href="http://www.ciyang.com/search.php?q=%E5%96%82" rel="nofollow">CiYang</a></p>

<pre><code>(1) (餵、喂是近代的“餧”字) 喂食    餵 and 喂 are modern writing of 餧
餧,饲也。——《玉篇》    餧 means feed(verb)
</code></pre>

<p>It's a new character derive from 餧.</p>

<p>P.S. The most popular usage of 喂 may be a character for answering phone. But it is also a derivative from the common usage of saying hello in a <strong>rude</strong> way.  Because of this, in fact, there are many people claims that answering phone with 喂 is impolite, we'd better say 你好/您好 instead. If you call public service number like customer service hot lines, you always hear the operator answering 您好.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-11-12T02:01:51.063Z
2015-11-12T05:35:28.790Z
2015-11-12T05:35:28.790Z
thinwa
<p>餵 and 喂 were different characters. Both of them are so-called 形聲字, which can be roughly translated as meaning-sound character. It means that part of the character is for the meaning, and part of it is for the sound.</p>

<p>For 餵，食 is its 形 part, or the part for meaning, which has something to do with food, and 畏 is its 聲 part, which sounds wèi or ㄨㄟˋ. For 喂 the 聲 part is the same as that of 餵 which is why they share similar pronunciations, and its 形 (meaning) part is 口, which has something to do with the mouth.</p>

<p>餵 can only mean to feed or to raise (a pet); 喂 could (past tense) only mean to make some sound (to scare off). 《康熙字典》 has an entry for 喂:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>《玉篇》於韋切，音威。恐也。</p>
</blockquote>

<p>That's why 喂 is used for telephone answering. It can be also used to shout out to someone to raise attention, as "hey" in "<em>Hey! You stop there right now!</em>" The simplification of Chinese characters turn two characters into the same thing (which I consider bad ): so now 喂 can mean to feed too.</p>

<p>There's also an entry in 《康熙字典》 for 餧, an alternative character of 餵:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>《廣韻》《集韻》《韻會》於僞切，音委。《玉篇》餧，飼也。《廣韻》餧，飯也。《說文》食牛也。《禮·月令》季春，餧獸之藥，毋出九門。《註》餧者，啗之也。藥，毒物也。《楚辭·九辯》驥不驟進而求服兮，鳳亦不貪餧而妄食。《註》謂不貪人飤己妄食也。
  又《唐韻》奴罪切《集韻》《韻會》《正韻》弩罪切，音鮾。《玉篇》飢也。一曰魚敗曰餧。《楚語》民之羸餧，日日已甚。《前漢·魏相傳》振乏餧。◎按餧餒古通，今相承，以餧爲餧飼之餧，以餒爲飢餒之餒，遂分爲二。</p>
</blockquote>

<p>So… basically to directly answer your question, 餵 doesn't answer the phone, 喂 does and also inherit 餵's meaning of to feed or to raise pets.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-11-12T03:15:54.433Z
2015-11-12T03:15:54.433Z
Vibius
<p>I was surprised to find out about the character 餵 (wei4, 喂) because it doesn't seem to have a meaning other than an expression to answer the telephone. Since the telephone was only invented in the last hundred years or so...this must be a relatively new character. Is this accurate? If so, how was the character/sound developed?</p>

<etymology><glyph-origin>
What is the etymology and glyph origin of 餵?
# What is the etymology and glyph origin of 餵?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-11-12)

I was surprised to find out about the character 餵 (wei4, 喂) because it doesn't seem to have a meaning other than an expression to answer the telephone. Since the telephone was only invented in the last hundred years or so...this must be a relatively new character. Is this accurate? If so, how was the character/sound developed?

**Tags:** etymology, glyph-origin


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-11-12. Score: 4

喂 means *feed(verb)* originally besides answering telephone.

Regarding the origin of the character, according to [CiYang](http://www.ciyang.com/search.php?q=%E5%96%82)

```
(1) (餵、喂是近代的“餧”字) 喂食    餵 and 喂 are modern writing of 餧
餧,饲也。——《玉篇》    餧 means feed(verb)

```

It's a new character derive from 餧.

P.S. The most popular usage of 喂 may be a character for answering phone. But it is also a derivative from the common usage of saying hello in a **rude** way. Because of this, in fact, there are many people claims that answering phone with 喂 is impolite, we'd better say 你好/您好 instead. If you call public service number like customer service hot lines, you always hear the operator answering 您好.


---

### Answer by username_2 on 2015-11-12. Score: 0

餵 and 喂 were different characters. Both of them are so-called 形聲字, which can be roughly translated as meaning-sound character. It means that part of the character is for the meaning, and part of it is for the sound.

For 餵，食 is its 形 part, or the part for meaning, which has something to do with food, and 畏 is its 聲 part, which sounds wèi or ㄨㄟˋ. For 喂 the 聲 part is the same as that of 餵 which is why they share similar pronunciations, and its 形 (meaning) part is 口, which has something to do with the mouth.

餵 can only mean to feed or to raise (a pet); 喂 could (past tense) only mean to make some sound (to scare off). 《康熙字典》 has an entry for 喂:

> 《玉篇》於韋切，音威。恐也。

That's why 喂 is used for telephone answering. It can be also used to shout out to someone to raise attention, as "hey" in "*Hey! You stop there right now!*" The simplification of Chinese characters turn two characters into the same thing (which I consider bad ): so now 喂 can mean to feed too.

There's also an entry in 《康熙字典》 for 餧, an alternative character of 餵:

> 《廣韻》《集韻》《韻會》於僞切，音委。《玉篇》餧，飼也。《廣韻》餧，飯也。《說文》食牛也。《禮·月令》季春，餧獸之藥，毋出九門。《註》餧者，啗之也。藥，毒物也。《楚辭·九辯》驥不驟進而求服兮，鳳亦不貪餧而妄食。《註》謂不貪人飤己妄食也。
> 又《唐韻》奴罪切《集韻》《韻會》《正韻》弩罪切，音鮾。《玉篇》飢也。一曰魚敗曰餧。《楚語》民之羸餧，日日已甚。《前漢·魏相傳》振乏餧。◎按餧餒古通，今相承，以餧爲餧飼之餧，以餒爲飢餒之餒，遂分爲二。

So… basically to directly answer your question, 餵 doesn't answer the phone, 喂 does and also inherit 餵's meaning of to feed or to raise pets.


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