Motion diagram. This sign is outside the licensed video corpus, so the diagram is its full record here.
EAT
“eat”
How to make it
Bring a flattened 'O' hand to the lips, as if placing food in your mouth.
Grammar
The same handshape and location, repeated, underlies FOOD (noun) — context and mouthing distinguish them.
Where the sign comes from
IconicThe sign visibly depicts its meaning — a present-day resemblance, not a historical claim.
The hand carries food to the mouth. EAT also appears as a building block inside older compound signs — HOME began as HOUSE+EAT+SLEEP.
Sources
- Ferrand c.1785 (via Shaw & Delaporte 2011)Ferrand, Abbé Jean. Dictionnaire des sourds-muets (manuscript, c. 1785; published 1897 and 2008).
The sign, taken apart
Every ASL sign is built from a handshape, a place it's made, and a movement. Learn to see these three and you can read and store any sign.
Location
Mouth
Made at the mouth.
Movement
a tap
One-handed.
Repeated. Palm facing in.