醋

Phono-semantic compound:

酉 (유, “wine, alcohol”), the standard radical for alcoholic beverages and fermentation.

昔 (석), providing the sound.

Thus, “a fermented liquid with sour taste,” i.e., vinegar.

食醋 (식초) — table vinegar

醋味 (초미) — sour taste

吃醋 (흘러넘친 질투, “to eat vinegar”) — Chinese idiom for jealousy

醋酸 (초산) — acetic acid

In Chinese, 醋 (cù) is the normal word for vinegar, while 酢 (zuò/cù) is much less common. Historically both had similar pronunciations in Old Chinese, which may explain the overlap.

In Japanese, 醋 and 酢 are variant forms, but 酢 (す) is the standard simplified character for vinegar.