食用
shí yòng · HSK 7
to use as food
🍽️ 食用 = 食 (food/eat) + 用 (use) → fit to use as food, edible
食 carries the eat/food sense and 用 means use, so the compound literally reads as food-use: something suitable to be eaten. Common on labels as 食用油 (cooking oil) and 可食用 (edible).
用 — pictograph of a bucket or wooden pail
用 originally depicted a bucket or container, possibly a sacrificial vessel made of wood. Over time it was borrowed to mean 'to use' or 'employ,' losing its concrete object sense. The modern meaning 'use' has been standard since early classical Chinese.