Kun reading compounds. 食う 【くう】 to eat, to live, to make a living, to survive, to bite, to sting (as insects do), to tease, to torment, to taunt, to make light of, to make fun of, to encroach on, to eat into, to consume, to defeat a superior, to threaten a position, to consume time and-or resources, to receive something (usu. an unfavourable event), to have sexual relations with a ...