How to Write 啃 (kěn) — Meaning “to gnaw / to nibble / to bite”

Imagine a person using their mouth (口) to bite into a hard apple, and the sound they make is "ken!" — the right part 肯 sounds like "ken." Picture the mouth struggling to gnaw, and you will remember 啃 means to nibble or gnaw.

The left radical 口 should be small and positioned high, not touching the right side. The right part 肯 has a top component 止 (zhǐ) with a short vertical stroke and a bottom component 月 (yuè) — make sure the horizontal strokes of 止 are evenly spaced and the 月 is slightly narrower than 止.

啃 means to gnaw or bite, and uses the mouth radical with 肯 for sound. 呲 (cī) means to show teeth or grin, and its right side 此 means "this." 咠 (qì) means to whisper or mutter, with 口 and 耳 (ear) — it relates to sound from the mouth to the ear, not biting. Visually, 啃 has 肯, 呲 has 此, and 咠 has 耳.

啃 is commonly used for physically gnawing, like 啃骨头 (gnawing a bone) or 啃苹果 (biting into an apple). It is also used metaphorically in 啃书 (pore over books) to describe studying hard, as if chewing through difficult material. In idioms, it can mean tackling a tough task, like a dog gnawing a bone persistently.

Common words containing 啃 include: 啃苹果 (kěn píng guǒ) — to gnaw on an apple; 啃书 (kěn shū) — to pore over books / to study hard; 啃骨头 (kěn gǔ tou) — to gnaw on a bone / to tackle a difficult task.