Native Korean verb, attested from early Middle Korean *먹다* (meokda). The root 먹- appears across a wide family of derived forms: 먹이다 (to feed someone), 먹히다 (to be eaten), 먹거리 (food/things to eat). Historically the verb covered both solid food and liquids, which is why Koreans still say 물을 먹다 ("eat water") for drinking water, though 마시다 (to drink) is now the neutral choice for beverages.

Korean food culture revolves heavily around communal eating, so 먹다 appears in a rich set of social phrases. 같이 먹자! ("Let's eat together!") is a warm, casual invitation. The polite form 드세요 (from 드시다, the honorific of 먹다) is used when offering food to elders or customers — using 먹다 to an elder can sound rude. Watch out for the false-friend phrase 나이를 먹다 ("to eat age"), which simply means "to get older" — 먹다 extends metaphorically to many non-food contexts.