Xu Collection, Lower Volume Radical: Food (shí) Character: Wei Kangxi Strokes: 17 Page 1422, Entry 13 According to the Expanded Rhyme Dictionary (Guangyun), Collected Rhymes (Jiyun), and Dictionary of Rhymes (Yunhui), the pronunciation is wei (rising tone). According to the Jade Chapters (Yupian), wei means to feed. According to the Expanded Rhyme Dictionary (Guangyun), wei means to provide food. According to the Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters (Shuowen), it means to feed cattle. According to the Book of Rites (Liji), in the third month of spring, poisons to feed wild beasts must not be brought out through the nine gates. The commentary notes that wei means to feed, and poison refers to toxic substances. According to the Songs of Chu (Chuci), the thoroughbred horse does not gallop forward seeking to be harnessed, nor does the phoenix greedily accept feed and eat recklessly. The commentary notes that this refers to not greedily eating food offered by others. Additionally, according to the Tang Rhyme (Tangyun), the pronunciation is nei (falling tone); according to the Collected Rhymes (Jiyun), Dictionary of Rhymes (Yunhui), and Correct Rhymes (Zhengyun), the pronunciation is nei (falling tone). According to the Jade Chapters (Yupian), it means to be hungry. One source states that when fish decays, it is called wei. According to the Discourses of the States (Guoyu), the people grew weak and hungry, a state that worsened day by day. According to the History of the Former Han (Hanshu), provide relief to those who are poor and hungry. Note: In ancient times, the characters for wei (to feed) and nei (to be hungry) were used interchangeably. Over time, it became standard practice to use wei specifically for the act of feeding and nei specifically for the state of hunger, effectively splitting the original character into two.