Chinese character 飤

飤 can mean feeding or provisions, depending on the text.

In Mandarin, 飤 is read as sì, with a falling tone. In modern Traditional Chinese usage, 飼 is the form for feeding or raising an animal; older entries also gloss 飤 as food or provisions, so context decides whether it means the act or what is supplied.

Surviving evidence reaches oracle-bone writing, where the use is unclear, and Western Zhou bronze inscriptions, where the graph is used for eating. One reading of its early design sees food beside a person eating; another connects it with 皀 and 飲, so the original shape remains unsettled.

Should I use 飤 or 飼?

Use 飼 in modern writing; keep 飤 for historical contexts.

The relationship is historical, not just visual: 飼 is a later graph built from 食 plus 司, while 飤 is older. In modern writing, 飤 can therefore look like an archaic quotation rather than a neutral spelling.

Bamboo versions of the Zhouyi, an ancient Chinese divination text, use 飤 where later standard versions have 食. Scholars read the passage as eating, nourishment, or erosion, so the surrounding sentence decides which sense fits.