懂中文 Dong Chinese

吃

chī

eat

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 乞 represents the sound.

Components
口 meaning component

口  Meaning component

kǒu

  

mouth

乞 sound component

乞  Sound component

qǐ

  

beg

Evolution

吃 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
吃 Clerical script Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical script

Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)
吃 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

吃  

chī

eat; drink; suffer, endure, bear; to eat; to consume; to eat at (a cafeteria etc); to eradicate; to destroy; to absorb; to suffer; to stammer (Taiwan pr. for this sense is [jí])

吃 (喫) 

chī

variant of 吃[chī]

Most common words with 吃
Freq.
Word
Meaning

吃

to eat

吃饭

to eat

好吃

tasty

吃惊

to be startled

大吃一惊

gobsmacked