饮食起居: 饮(drink), 食(food), 起(?), 居(house).
What does "起" mean?
百度百科:
饮食起居，拼音是yǐn shí qǐ jū，出自《祭杜祁公文》，解释为指人的日常生活。
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3 Answers
起居 is a word in and of itself.
《规范》defines it as:
活动和休息；指日常生活。
The breakdown goes something like this:
起 = 活动
居 = 休息
So 起 here basically means to be active.
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@Algebra I don't have a link for Guifan, but you can see《两岸》instead: moedict.tw/~%E8%B5%B7%E5%B1%85 "活動和休息；借指日常生活。"– Mou某 ♦Aug 27, 2019 at 3:42
You should be aware of the contrasting pairs in this phrase.
- 飲 (to drink)
- 食 (to eat [not food])
- 起 (to rise up, get up > be active)
- 居 (to rest)
Like in English, when a pair of opposites in a category are stated, it sometimes means all things of that category.
- The beautiful and the ugly
- All folks, old and young
I think the whole phrase 饮食起居 means your daily regimen. Otherwise, split it into pairs.
饮食：(your) drink and food = food and drink
起居：(your) everyday life
The place where you 起 (rise, start the day) is the place where you 居 (live, stop at the end of the day). Life is what happens in between. (Unless you are on holiday. I love the phrase 假日, 'false days' as a brilliant antonym to 饮食起居。 Days when you do something different.）
What does "起" mean?
Where you start your day.
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The explanation of "假日" as "false day" is incorrect. It's simply "day for rest." You may refer to 康熙字典: 又【集韻】【韻會】居迓切【正韻】居亞切，音價。 休沐 也。【晉書·王尼傳】護軍與尼長假。【歐陽修·題跋】言旬休，皆休假也。– StanAug 28, 2019 at 2:31