I understand both are vulgar male forms of eat, but why these two kanji are basically the same? What means that 口 in there？
-
（口＋食）遼の僧行均の「龍龕手鑑」に「喰音は餐｛さん｝又は音孫｛そん｝」とあって、飱｛そん｝の音がある。「新撰字鏡」に「喰、飲食を受けるなり、[波牟]{はむ}」とあり、我が国ではよく用いられた字である。① くう、くらう ② 飲食を受ける。（字源より）For what is worth the 喰 entry of a jigen dictionary. – 永劫回帰 Dec 24 '15 at 8:43
The earliest appearances of 喰 in dictionaries are, as @変幻出没 said, those in 龍龕手鏡（龍龕手鑑） or 新撰字鏡, but their definitions are not much same as today's. The meaning they suggested is like "dine", "dinner" or "have a meal" and likely to be a variant of 飧.
In more recent usages 喰 explicitly represents くう and くらう, contrary to 食 can also be read たべる or はむ. I'm not sure if the kanji was recycled or reinvented, but it certainly had some usefulness because pre-modern orthography rarely used okurigana, making it difficult to distinguish certain homographs. In this sense, you can also say that 喰 has already lost its reason for existence, but it's still in use, especially when you want more "bite and booze" feeling or violent "consuming, devouring" implications.
answered Dec 24 '15 at 16:42
broccoli facemask - clothbroccoli facemask - cloth
45.4k1 gold badge62 silver badges143 bronze badges
Dictionary says 喰 is made in Japan to emphasize the action of eating by adding 口 next to 食.
The difference of two kanjj is that 食 is a kanji designated for everyday use and 喰 isn't that, so we mostly use 食. The difference of meaning is little, so if you use only 食, it is no problem.
口 means mouth. Since Kanji is ideogram, both have 食 that means eating and food. Other kanjis related to food/eating also have 食:
- 飯 (rice) http://kanji.jitenon.jp/kanjib/592.html
- 飲 (drink) http://kanji.jitenon.jp/kanji/249.html
- 飢 (starvation) http://kanji.jitenon.jp/kanjid/1649.html
-
Yeah, I get that, but what does it means all together? What's the difference? – Jaime Dec 24 '15 at 4:39
-
1There aren't so much difference in meaning (If you see dictionary, both are written on the same page: dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/60257/meaning/m0u). However, what you see normally is 食. 喰 was invented in Japan and it emphasizes the action of eating: ja.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%96%B0 – user51966 Dec 24 '15 at 4:43
-
-
1The action of eating itself. I think we use 喰 only in special contexts, such as the title of the books/movies, so in daily life, you would rarely use 喰. – user51966 Dec 24 '15 at 4:54
-
1@h2so5 Wiktionary says so, but I think there is no fundamental difference between 食 and 喰 as Goo Dictionary juxtaposes both (dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/60257/meaning/m0u/%E9%A3%9F%E3%81%86). Another website also discusses this issue, and the top answer doesn't see clear difference between them: detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q119354866 – user51966 Dec 24 '15 at 5:42
