飲

飲 (Kangxi radical 184, 食+4, 13 strokes, cangjie input 人戈弓人 (OINO), four-corner 8778₂, composition ⿰飠欠)

• 𠿮 𡑨 𤀔 𥽁 𡼽 𫨜

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1417, character 19
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 44063
• Dae Jaweon: page 1941, character 20
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 7, page 4445, character 7
• Unihan data for U+98F2

In the oracle bone script, it was an ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意): 酉 (“bottle (of alcoholic beverages)”) + 人 (“person”) + 口 (“mouth (occasionally with the tongue protruding)”) – a person bending over a bottle to drink the alcoholic beverage. The droplets represented drops of the drink or saliva.

In the bronze script, the mouth separated from the body and corrupted into 今 (OC *krɯm), while the rest of the body became 欠 (OC *kʰoms). These two components also acted as phonetic components. These changes were inherited in the seal script, leading Shuowen to interpret this character (㱃) as a phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *qrɯmʔ, *qrɯms): phonetic 酓 (OC *qʰɯːm, *qlamʔ, *qlɯːms) + semantic 欠 (“yawn”).

In the clerical script, 酓 has been modified to 食 (“to eat”), which is inherited in the current form.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ʔam (“to eat; to drink”).

飲

1. (literary or Cantonese, Hakka) to drink

   • 蒙舍蠻以椒、薑、桂和烹而飲之。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     蒙舍蛮以椒、姜、桂和烹而饮之。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Tang Dynasty, Fan Chuo, Manshu, chapter 7, part 7

     Méngshè Mán yǐ jiāo, jiāng, guì hé pēng ér yǐn zhī. [Pinyin]

     The Mengshe Barbarians use pepper, ginger, and cinnamon to boil as a drink.

   頸渴就飲水啦。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   颈渴就饮水啦。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   geng² hot³ zau⁶ jam² seoi² laa¹. [Jyutping]

   Drink water if you get thirsty.

2. (Cantonese) to attend a banquet

   去飲／去饮 [Cantonese]  ―  heoi³ jam² [Jyutping]  ―  to attend a banquet

   我今晚有得飲啊。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   我今晚有得饮啊。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   ngo⁵ gam¹ maan^5-1 jau⁵ dak¹ jam² aa¹. [Jyutping]

   I have a banquet to attend.

3. to swallow (tears); to nurse (grievance); to keep in the heart
4. alternative form of 隱 / 隐 (“to hide; to conceal”)
5. beverage; drink
6. diet; food
7. (dialectal Cantonese, including Taishanese, Yangjiang Yue; dialectal Gan; dialectal Hakka; Min) rice water

   Alternative forms: (Eastern Min, Hokkien) 泔, (Hokkien) 湆

8. (Xiamen, Zhangping and Taiwanese Hokkien) sticky and watery

   Alternative forms: 泔, 湆

飲

1. to give (animals) water to drink; to water (animals)

   • 飲余馬於咸池兮，總余轡乎扶桑。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
     饮余马于咸池兮，总余辔乎扶桑。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]

     From: The Verses of Chu, 4^th century BCE – 2^nd century CE

     Yìn yú mǎ yú xiánchí xī, zǒng yú pèi hū fúsāng. [Pinyin]

     I watered my dragon steeds at the Pool of Heaven,
     And tied their reins up to the Fu-sang tree.

2. (Southwestern Mandarin) to water (plants)

   Alternative forms: 𢳃, 𢪪

3. (literary) to wine and dine (someone); to entertain with alcohol and food

• (to water) 澆灌／浇灌 (jiāoguàn)

飲

1. (Hokkien) alternative form of 啉 (lim, “to drink”)

• “飲”, in 重編國語辭典修訂本 [Revised Mandarin Chinese Dictionary] (in Chinese), National Academy for Educational Research (Taiwan), 2021.
• “飲”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “飲”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.
• 莆田市政协文化文史和学习委员会 [Culture, History and Learning Committee of Putian CPPCC], editor (2021), “饮”, in 莆仙方言大词典 [Comprehensive Dictionary of Puxian Dialect] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), Xiamen University Press, →ISBN, page 6.
• 莆田市荔城区档案馆 [Putian City Licheng District Archives], editor (2022), “饮”, in 莆仙方言文读字汇 [Puxian Dialect Literary Reading Dictionary] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), page 285.

(Third grade kyōiku kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 飮)

• Go-on: おん (on)
• Kan-on: いん (in, Jōyō)
• Kun: のむ (nomu, 飲む, Jōyō)、のます (nomasu, 飲ます)、みずかう (mizukau, 飲う)

From Middle Chinese 飲 (MC 'imX|'imH).

The kan'on pronunciation, so likely a later borrowing.

• (Tokyo) いん [íꜜǹ] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [ĩɴ]

飲(いん) • (in) 

1. drink
2. bear; endure

飲(いん) • (in) 

1. (literary) drinking (alcoholic beverages)
2. (literary) drink; beverage
3. (literary) banquet; feast

飲 (eumhun 마실 음 (masil eum))

1. drink
2. inhale

• 飮食 (음식): food

飲: Hán Nôm readings: ẩm, ỡm, hẩm

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.