Definition
食不果腹 is a four-character set phrase (chengyu) meaning 'not having enough to eat' — literally 'food does not fill the stomach'. It describes extreme poverty or famine where people cannot get enough food to sustain themselves. Use it in formal or literary contexts, often to depict hardship or deprivation.
f.e.
to be starvingto have insufficient food (idiom)
Examples
- ，食不果腹，。Dāngshí xǔduō bǎixìng yī bù bì tǐ, shí, shēnghuó shífēn jiānnán.At that time, many common people were barely clothed and starving, living a very hard life.
- ，食不果腹，。Zhànluàn niándài, rénmín shí, mín bù liáo shēng.In the years of war, the people were starving and life was unbearable.
- ，，食不果腹。Zhè piàn tǔdì liánnián gānhàn, zhuāngjia jué shōu, cūnmín shí.This land suffered years of drought, crops failed completely, and the villagers were left starving.
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