Xu Collection, Lower Volume
Radical: Eat (shí)
Ding, Kangxi strokes: 11
Page 1416, Entry 09
Broad Rhymes (Guangyun), Collected Rhymes (Jiyun), Dictionary of Rhymes (Yunhui), Correct Rhymes (Zhengyun): Pronounced ding (falling tone).
Jade Chapters (Yupian): To store food.
Ocean of Jade (Yuhai): During the Tang Dynasty, the Directorate of Palace Cuisine used nine plates stacked for imperial meals, known as nine-ding food. Today, at common banquets, sticky fruits arranged before a seat are called kanxi-dingzuo (viewing-seat arrangements). It was anciently called dingzuo (nail seating), referring to food that is set out but not eaten. Referring to the Biography of Li Yuan in the History of Tang (Tangshu), people referred to him as a nail-seat pear. Today, the term is used to describe literary compositions that are repetitive or cumulatively piled up, known as dou-ding.
Collected Rhymes (Jiyun): Sometimes written as a variant form.