verb #32,383

Meanings

  1. 1 to chew
  2. 2 to masticate
  3. 3 to savor (figurative)

Examples

Qǐng xìxì jǔjué shíwù.
Please chew your food carefully.
Zhè shǒu shī zhídé fǎnfù jǔjué.
This poem is worth chewing over again and again.

Tips

mistakes
has two readings: jǔ ('to chew', the standard one — found in 咀嚼 jǔjué) and zuǐ (a popular variant of 'mouth', mostly seen in Cantonese place names like Tsim Sha Tsui). On the mainland, jǔ is the only reading you usually need.

Components

radical
kǒu
mouth
depicts an open mouth — the obvious site of chewing. As radical it marks as a mouth-action verb, joining — the eating-and-tasting family. Here it is fully literal: the jaw at work.
phonetic
qiě
moreover; and
supplies the sound (qiě shifted to jǔ). The same phonetic also drives . Originally depicted a stacked altar; in it carries phonetic load while the mouth radical handles the meaning.

Stroke Order