shí wù
food
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我喜欢吃中国食物。
wǒ xǐhuān chī zhōngguó shíwù.
I like to eat Chinese food.
食物很美味。
shíwù hěn měiwèi.
The food is delicious.
我正在做饭。
wǒ zhèngzài zuò fàn.
I am cooking.
食品 (shí pǐn)
foodstuff
吃食 (chī shí)
food
饥饿 (jī è)
hunger
空腹 (kōng fù)
empty stomach
The Chinese word 食物 (shíwù) for "food" is composed of two characters: 食 (shí) and 物 (wù). The character 食 originally meant "to eat" or "food", and it is often used in words related to food, such as 饮食 (yǐnshí, "food and drink") and 餐饮 (cānyǐn, "dining"). The character 物 originally meant "thing" or "object", and it is used in a wide variety of words, such as 物质 (wùzhì, "matter") and 物理 (wùlǐ, "physics"). When these two characters are combined to form 食物, the meaning becomes more specific to "food" or "foodstuffs".
