伙食
huǒ shí · HSK 7
meals
🍚🍱 伙 (companion/mess group) + 食 (eat) = the food a group eats together
伙 carries the sense of a band or mess crew, and 食 means to eat or food. Together 伙食 is the shared catering of a group — the meals served in a canteen, barracks, or cafeteria. huǒ shí also chimes with the English word hush before she eats.
伙 — person radical 亻 + fire 火
伙 combines 亻 (person) with 火 (fire), originally referring to a group of people sharing a cooking fire — a mess unit of soldiers or travelers. From this it broadened to mean 'companion,' 'partner,' or 'group,' and is now common in words like 伙伴 (partner) and 伙计 (mate).