茹

• Botanical: Edible plants, specifically raw greens, succulent herbs, or roots.
• Physical Consumption: To eat or ingest; typically implies the consumption of raw plants or substances taken to absorb specific properties.
• Internalization/Endurance: To bear, endure, or swallow (e.g., grief, hatred, or a secret) without outward expression.

• Noun: The edible plant or root itself.
• Verb: Used for both the physical act of ingesting and the abstract act of internalizing/suppressing.

• Contrast with 食 (shí): While both mean "to eat," 茹 is specialized toward raw botanical consumption in a physical sense, and psychological suppression in an abstract sense.

In emotional or philosophical contexts, treat as a process of internalization. It suggests that an external experience has been taken in and made a permanent part of the subject's internal state.