TTMIK Level 5 Lesson 22 - Word Builder (식)

Word Builder lessons are designed to help you understand how to expand your vocabulary by learning/understanding some common and basic building blocks of Korean words. The words and letters that will be introduced through Word Builder lessons are not necessarily all Chinese characters, or 한자 [han-ja]. Though many of them are based on Chinese characters, the meanings can be different from modern-day Chinese. Your goal, through these lessons, is to understand how words are formed and remember the keywords in Korean to expand your Korean vocabulary from there.  You certainly don’t have to memorize the Hanja characters, but if you want to, feel free!

Today’s keyword is 식.

These Chinese character for this is 食.

The word 식 is related to “food” and “to eat”.


식 (eat) + 사 (work, job) = 식사 食事 [sik-sa] = meal

식 (eat) + 당 (house) = 식당 食堂 [sik-dang] = restaurant

식 (eat) + 품 (thing, stuff, item) = 식품 食品 [sik-pum] = food product, groceries

식 (eat) + 탁 (table) = 식탁 食卓 [sik-tak] = (dining) table

음 (drink) + 식 (eat) = 음식  飮食 [eum-sik] = food

음 (drink) + 식 (eat) + 점 (store) = 음식점 飮食店 [eum-sik-jeom] = restaurant

간 (gap, space) + 식 (eat) = 간식 間食 [gan-sik] = snack

분 (powder, flour) + 식 (food) = 분식 粉食 [bun-sik] = flour-based food

외 (outside, exterior) + 식 (food) = 외식 外食 [oe-sik] = to eat out, to dine out

과 (excessive) + 식 (food) = 과식 過食 [gwa-sik] = overeating, excessive eating

후 (back, after) + 식 (food) = 후식 後食 [hu-sik] = dessert

시 (test) + 식 (food) = 시식 試食 [si-sik] = sample food, food sampling