貪食

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 貪食 (どんしょく) is a noun meaning either gluttonous eating or the cellular process of phagocytosis.
• Basic usage: Its sense changes between literary or everyday discussion of excessive eating and biological discussion of cell activity.
  • 物語の王は貪食の末に体調を崩した。 — The king in the story became ill from gluttony.
  • 顕微鏡の映像で細胞の貪食を観察した。 — We observed cells performing phagocytosis in microscope footage.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Context-dependent technical sense
  • With food and human behavior it means gluttony; with 細胞 it denotes phagocytosis. Do not merge these two senses within one context.