# 食う
## Japanese
### Etymology 1

* Kanji in this term
* 食
* く Grade: 2
* kun'yomi
* Alternative spellings
* 喰う 喫う (rare)
/kupu/ → */kuwu/ → /kuu/
From Old Japanese.
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

* (Tokyo) くう [kúꜜù] (Atamadaka – [1])
* IPA: [kɯ̟ː]
* Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of 「食う」
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary :
| Stem forms ||||
| Terminal (終止形) Attributive (連体形) | 食う | くう | [kúꜜù] |
| Imperative (命令形) | 食え | くえ | [kúꜜè] |
| Key constructions ||||
| Passive | 食われる | くわれる | [kùwáréꜜrù] |
| Causative | 食わせる | くわせる | [kùwáséꜜrù] |
| Potential | 食える | くえる | [kùéꜜrù] |
| Volitional | 食おう | くおー | [kùóꜜò] |
| Negative | 食わない | くわない | [kùwáꜜnàì] |
| Negative perfective | 食わなかった | くわなかった | [kùwáꜜnàkàttà] |
| Formal | 食います | くいます | [kùímáꜜsù] |
| Perfective | 食った | くった | [kúꜜttà] |
| Conjunctive | 食って | くって | [kúꜜttè] |
| Hypothetical conditional | 食えば | くえば | [kúꜜèbà] |

#### Verb

食(く)う • (kuu) transitive godan (stem 食(く)い (kui), past 食(く)った (kutta))
* to put something in one's mouth
* (colloquial) 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.
* to make a living, to live; to survive
* to tease, to taunt, to make light of, to make fun of; to torment
* to bite, to sting (of an insect, usually used in the passive)
    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.

##### Conjugation

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms") :
| Mizenkei ("imperfective") | 食わ | くわ | kuwa |
| Ren’yōkei ("continuative") | 食い | くい | kui |
| Shūshikei ("terminal") | 食う | くう | kuu |
| Rentaikei ("attributive") | 食う | くう | kuu |
| Kateikei ("hypothetical") | 食え | くえ | kue |
| Meireikei ("imperative") | 食え | くえ | kue |
| Key constructions ||||
| Passive | 食われる | くわれる | kuwareru |
| Causative | 食わせる 食わす | くわせる くわす | kuwaseru kuwasu |
| Potential | 食える | くえる | kueru |
| Volitional | 食おう | くおう | kuō |
| Negative | 食わない | くわない | kuwanai |
| Negative continuative | 食わず | くわず | kuwazu |
| Formal | 食います | くいます | kuimasu |
| Perfective | 食った | くった | kutta |
| Conjunctive | 食って | くって | kutte |
| Hypothetical conditional | 食えば | くえば | kueba |

##### Synonyms

* (to eat): 食(た)べる (taberu), 食(は)む (hamu); (honorific) 召(め)し上(あ)がる (meshiagaru)
* (to tease, torment): 苛(いじ)める (ijimeru), からかう (karakau)
* (insect bite): 刺(さ)す (sasu)

##### Derived terms

* 崩ゆ, 潰ゆ, 壊ゆ (kuyu): obsolete for 崩える, 潰える, 壊える
* 崩, 潰 (kue): erosion
* 崩える, 潰える, 壊える (kueru): to erode, to be eaten away, to fall apart, to break
* 桑 (kuwa): a mulberry
* 銜う, 啣える, 咥える (kuwau): obsolete for 銜える, 啣える, 咥える
* 加う (kuwau): obsolete for 加える
* 銜える, 啣える, 咥える (kuwaeru): to hold in one's mouth
* 加える (kuwaeru): to add something, to increase or develop something; to inflict
* 加わる (kuwawaru): to increase, to grow; to be added on to something else; to join in
* 蓼食う虫も好き好き (tade kuu mushi mo sukizuki): there's no accounting for taste

### Etymology 2

* Kanji in this term
* 食
* くら Grade: 2
* kun'yomi
For pronunciation and definitions of 食う – see the following entry. :
| 【食くらう】 | [verb] (vulgar) to gobble [verb] to get (something undesirable) [verb] to live [verb] to get exiled Alternative spellings 喰らう, 喰う |
(This term, 食う, is an alternative spelling of the above term.) :

### References

* ↑ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
* ↑ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
* ↑ Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN