药食同源 in English yao4 shi2 tong2 yuan2 Meaning

Meanings

  • literally (word for word) food and medicine come from the same source (idiomatic expression)
  • metaphorically there is no clear-cut distinction between food and medicine

Simplified Characters

药 食 同 源

Traditional Characters

藥 食 同 源

Pinyin

yao4 shi2 tong2 yuan2

Literal

Literal explanation, with pronunciation and meaning of each character.

药yao4leaf of the iris 食shi2to eat 同tong2(used in given names) 源yuan2root