食う

Alternative forms

• 喰う

Etymology

/kupu/ → /kuɸu/ → */kuwu/ → /kuu/

From Old Japanese.^[1]

The medial /w/ vanishes because Japanese does not have a /wu/ phoneme. It surfaces though in various conjugations, such as the negative form kuwanai or the passive form kuwareru.

Possibly cognate with 口 (kuchi, “mouth”).

Pronunciation

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) く​う [kúꜜù] (Atamadaka – [1])^[2][3]
  • IPA^(key): [kɯ̟ᵝː]

Verb

食う (godan conjugation, hiragana くう, rōmaji kuu, historical hiragana くふ)

1. to put something in one's mouth
2. (men's speech, vulgar) to eat, to devour

   誰 (だれ)でも昼 (ひる)には飯 (めし)を食 (く)う。

   Dare de mo hiru ni wa meshi o kuu.

   Everyone eats food at noon.

3. to make a living, to live; to survive
4. to tease, to taunt, to make light of, to make fun of; to torment
5. (of an insect, usually used in the passive) to bite, to sting

   昨晩 (さくばん)は、蚊 (か)に食 (く)われた。

   Sakuban wa, ka ni kuwareta.

   I got bitten by a mosquito last night.

References