偷吃 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

tōuchī

pilfer food

tōu to steal

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 俞 represents the sound.

亻 Meaning component

rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

俞 Sound component

yú, shù surname

Change in sound

偷 and 俞 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
偷 *l̥ˤo
俞 *lo

Regular Modern

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	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	thuw	l̥ˤo	steal

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 乞 represents the sound.

口 Meaning component

kǒu, kou mouth

乞 Sound component

qǐ, qì beg

Regular Modern

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	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	kɯd

《說文》：“吃，言蹇難也。从口，气聲。”