食
shí
#670 most
frequent character
to eat, food, animal feed, eclipse
Character breakdown
Source: Make Me a Hanzi.
食 shows a mouth 亽 over a basket that held grain. That picture gives the first sense 'to eat'. The lower part 艮 now stands for older 皀, a grain basket. From 'eat' came 'food' and 'meal'.
Drawn as: mouth above grain basket
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