What's the (real) difference between 飲む and 食べる?


When I first started learning Japanese, I learned that 飲む meant "drink" and
食べる meant "eat". These translations seemed to work for a while, but then I
learned that you could 飲む things that you can't drink, like 息, タバコ, or 錠剤.

While going through various definitions for 飲む, I found one in particular that
caught my eye (which I've abridged here, taken from the 集英社国語辞典):

> １。（液体や固体を）かまないで、口から体内に取り込む。「ミルクをー」「薬をー」
>
> ２。（気体を）吸い込む。「たばこをー」

It got me thinking: is the fundamental difference between 飲む and 食べる whether
you chew before you swallow? Can I express these words as:

  1. 飲む "to pass something through the mouth and into the body _without_ chewing"
  2. 食べる "to pass something through the mouth and into the body _with_ chewing"

Or is there a better way to explain the difference?




I completely agree that the difference between 食べる and 飲む is whether you chew
it or not. For example, “eat some soup” is スープを飲む, not スープを食べる.

The entry for [のむ (飲む, 呑む) in
Daijisen](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%A3%B2%E3%82%80-597428) has a slightly
more detailed explanation in a usage note, although the purpose of the note is
to explain the difference between のむ and 吸う:

> 「水を飲む」「薬を飲む」「卵を呑んだ蛇」などのように、「飲む」は液体や小さな固体など、口に入れたものを噛(か)まずに体内に送りこむことを言う。

My translation:

> 飲む means “swallow something (liquid, small solid, etc.) which was put to the
> mouth into the body without chewing” as in 水を飲む (drink some water), 薬を飲む
> (take medicine (orally)), 卵を呑んだ蛇 (a snake which swallowed an egg).




I completely agree that the difference between 食べる and 飲む is whether you chew
it or not. For example, “eat some soup” is スープを飲む, not スープを食べる.

The entry for [のむ (飲む, 呑む) in
Daijisen](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%A3%B2%E3%82%80-597428) has a slightly
more detailed explanation in a usage note, although the purpose of the note is
to explain the difference between のむ and 吸う:

> 「水を飲む」「薬を飲む」「卵を呑んだ蛇」などのように、「飲む」は液体や小さな固体など、口に入れたものを噛(か)まずに体内に送りこむことを言う。

My translation:

> 飲む means “swallow something (liquid, small solid, etc.) which was put to the
> mouth into the body without chewing” as in 水を飲む (drink some water), 薬を飲む
> (take medicine (orally)), 卵を呑んだ蛇 (a snake which swallowed an egg).

