Difference between 吃 and 食

[yhe2006]

Both mean to eat.

When and how is each used?

[daofeishi]

In modern Chinese, 食 is not used by itself to mean to eat, and is only used in compound words to indicate food or eating, e.g. 食物，狗食，食用. There are remnants of Classical Chinese where 食 shows up as to eat, but in those cases it is better to learn the usage on an individual basis.

吃 is by far the most common verb used to indicate eating. 吃 has some synonyms that are used in various contexts. The verb 食用, for example, is more formal and means something like to consume: 不适合人食用 = not for human consumption

[anonymoose]

It depends on the language. In mandarin and shanghainese for example, 吃 is used commonly as a verb to mean "to eat". In shanghainese, it can also mean "to drink" and "to smoke" (cigarettes). In cantonese, 食 is more common to mean "to eat".

In mandarin, 吃 is often used individually to mean "to eat". Both 吃 and 食 appear in compound words, so you just have to learn them on a case by case basis.

[msittig]

Isn't 食 also used commonly in Japanese?

[Joeychen]

Yes, there are chinese characters 食 found in japanese, it is because japanese had borrowed characters from chinese in ancient when china was such a powerful country in economy and culture.

but in contrast, we can't find 吃 in japanese, the reason is clear, as daofeishi said 吃 is individually used as a verbs for the meaning to eat in morden chinese, sometimes we can find 食 as a verb in newspaper or books,though.

[Ken Lin]

I'm a native speaker of Chinese and I even can't exactly tell the difference between these two words......= = I only can say that "吃" is usually used in oral Chinese(口語、白話文 I don't know how to say that in English......), and "食" is usually used in compound words or "古文".

[Hofmann]

Yes, as the default word for "eat." 喫 is also used in some compounds. 吃 means "stutter" or "falter."

[msittig]

So the original asker may come from a Japanese-language background.

<small>And let's not forget about when China borrowed words from Japanese in the early 20th century after the mainland's backward slide into hubris and isolationism.</small>

[jasoninchina]

The only time I have seen 食 used as a verb is in 食言。 Are there other instances?

[lingo-ling]

Sometimes 食 is used in more formal, literary or poetic writing in Mandarin.

It's also a component in technical/scientific terms.