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饮

飲
yǐn
verb #8,768

Meanings

  1. 1 to drink
  2. 2 beverage; drink

Examples

饮用水要先烧开。
Yǐnyòngshuǐ yào xiān shāokāi.
Drinking water should be boiled first.
他一饮而尽。
Tā yìyǐn'érjìn.
He drained the cup in one gulp.
均衡的饮食有益健康。
Jūnhéng de yǐnshí yǒuyì jiànkāng.
A balanced diet is good for health.

Tips

memory
饣 (food) plus 欠 (a person with mouth wide open) pictures someone opening their mouth toward a vessel for a drink.
register
A fourth-tone reading yìn is the causative 'to give an animal water to drink', seen in the literary 饮马 (to water a horse). It is rare and classical; in essentially all modern use, drinking and diet, the reading is yǐn.

Components

radical
饣 shí
food (radical form of 食)
Side-food radical on the left, the compressed three-stroke form of 食. It indexes 饮 in the consumption family with 饭, 饱, 馆. 饮 means to drink, pairing with 食 'to eat' in 饮食.
semantic
欠 qiàn
to lack; to owe; to yawn
Right side 欠, a pictograph of a person with mouth wide open, leaning forward. The original sense was 'open mouth', which combined with the food radical pictures a thirsty person bending toward a vessel to drink. A pure compound: both pieces carry meaning, the sound yǐn is not transparent.

Stroke Order

饮 yǐn