variant of 飢|饥[ji1]

food (饣) + sound jī (几) = hunger

The food radical (饣) carries the meaning: when food is absent, hunger follows. 几 mainly contributes the jī sound rather than a semantic idea.

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A small tablePhonetic
FoodSemantic

他走了很长的路,感到渴难耐。

tā zǒu le hěn cháng de lù, gǎn dào jī kě nán nài。

He walked a very long way and felt unbearably hungry and thirsty.

战争期间,很多人忍受着寒交迫的痛苦。

zhàn zhēng qī jiān, hěn duō rén rěn shòu zhe jī hán jiāo pò de tòng kǔ。

During the war, many people endured the suffering of hunger and cold pressing in on them at once.

Words with 饥

饥不择食

jī bù zé shí

when hungry, you can't pick what you eat (idiom); beggars can't be choosers

饥寒交迫

jī hán jiāo pò

beset by hunger and cold (idiom)

饥渴

jī kě

hungry and thirsty

饥肠辘辘

jī cháng lù lù

(idiom) stomach rumbling with hunger; very hungry

饥饿

jī è

hunger

饱人不知饿人饥

bǎo rén bù zhī è rén jī

The well-fed cannot know how the starving suffer (idiom).

饱暖思淫欲,饥寒起盗心

bǎo nuǎn sī yín yù , jī hán qǐ dào xīn

lechery springs from warmth and nourishment, kleptomania springs from hunger and cold (idiom)

饱汉不知饿汉饥

bǎo hàn bù zhī è hàn jī

The well-fed cannot know how the starving suffer (idiom).

饥荒

jī huāng

crop failure

饥馑荐臻

jī jǐn jiàn zhēn

famine repeats unceasingly (idiom, from Book of Songs)

充饥

chōng jī

to allay one's hunger

充饥止渴

chōng jī zhǐ kě

to allay one's hunger and slake one's thirst (idiom)

More characters with 饣