食 – JLPT N5 Kanji, Kanji for eat, food (With 3D Visualization)
Kanji for eat, food
Fast lookup with examples and clean stroke-order visualization.
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Find visually similar kanji, commonly confused characters, related meanings, and useful words connected to 食.
食
- Meanings
- eat, food
- Onyomi
- ショク
- Kunyomi
- た.べる
- Name Readings
- ぐい
- JLPT
- N5
- Grade
- 2
- Frequency
- -
- Kanji Writing Practice
- Practice
Stroke Order
Story
The kanji 食 began as a picture of a person kneeling in front of food under a roof. In ancient times, it showed a scene of offering or eating — someone sitting to receive food. The upper part represents a roof or cover, while the lower part shows an open mouth ready to eat. Over time, this symbol came to mean “to eat” and “food,” carrying the sense of nourishment and daily life.
Short Story
A person under a roof, about to eat — 食 shows the act of taking food, the image of eating and being nourished.
Mnemonic
Picture yourself under a roof, bowl in hand, about to take a bite — that’s 食, the kanji for eating and food.
Vocabulary Examples
| Word | Reading | Meaning | Meta |
|---|---|---|---|
| 食 | しょく | food, foodstuff | common Noun |
| 食 | しょく | eclipse (solar, lunar, etc.), occultation | Noun |
| 食堂 | しょくどう | dining room, dining hall, cafeteria, canteen, messroom | common JLPT-N5 Noun |
| 食事 | しょくじ | meal (e.g. lunch, dinner) | common JLPT-N3 Noun, Suru verb, Intransitive verb |
| 食欲 | しょくよく | appetite (for food) | common JLPT-N3 Noun |
| 食品 | しょくひん | food, food products, foodstuffs | common JLPT-N3 Noun |
| 食べ物 | たべもの | food | common JLPT-N5 Noun |
| 食べる | たべる | to eat | common JLPT-N5 Ichidan verb, Transitive verb |
| 食料品 | しょくりょうひん | foodstuff, groceries | common JLPT-N4 Noun |
| 食料 | しょくりょう | food | common JLPT-N3 Noun |