About
饥 is a phono-semantic compound: the left radical 饣, derived from 食 (shí) 'food, to eat', establishes the semantic domain, and the right component 几 (jī) indicates the pronunciation. This structure directly conveys the concept of hunger by combining the notion of food with a phonetic marker. It is the simplified form of 飢, which originally signified the physical need for food. The character 饥 thus denotes hunger or starvation, its meaning transparent through the food radical. The simplification preserves the original structure of 飢, merely reducing the full 食 radical to its abbreviated form 饣, while keeping the phonetic 几 intact.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
我饿了，有点饥饿。
长时间的饥饿对健康有害。
战争导致那个国家发生饥荒。
那场旱灾使许多人处于饥寒交迫之中。
饥不择食的时候，人们什么都吃。
我们必须关注全球的饥饿与贫困问题。
饥肠辘辘的他赶紧吃了一碗面。
历史上，严重的饥馑往往引发社会动荡。
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