⺼
marks words for flesh · Kangxi radical 130 · variant of 肉
marks words for flesh, body parts and internal organs, and by extension chemical compounds derived from organic matter
The original graph was a picture of a slab of cut meat, with the outline of the piece and two curved lines inside standing for the streaks of sinew or the ribs running through it. Standing alone it became 肉, and ⺼ is that same drawing squeezed narrow to sit on the left side of a character, where the outer strokes are the edges of the slab and the two short inner strokes are the old streaks of meat. You can see it in body-part words like 肘 elbow, 腰 waist, 腱 tendon and 膺 breast, and in 胗 gizzard. Because flesh is the stuff of living bodies, chemists reused ⺼ for compound names such as 肼 hydrazine and 胍 guanidine.
⺼ at a glance
- Meaning
- marks words for flesh
- Strokes
- 4
- Characters
- 182
- Role
- Contributes meaning
- Kangxi radical
- 130
- Variant of
- 肉
Characters with ⺼ (112 of 182)
HSK 1 · 2
HSK 4 · 7
HSK 5 · 15
HSK 6 · 10
Beyond HSK · 75
Frequently asked questions
What does the component ⺼ mean?
⺼ means "marks words for flesh". In the characters that contain it, it contributes meaning.
How many Chinese characters contain ⺼?
182 characters in this dictionary contain ⺼, including ones at HSK 1, HSK 3, HSK 4, HSK 5, HSK 6.
Is ⺼ a radical?
Yes — ⺼ is Kangxi radical 130, one of the 214 traditional indexing radicals used to organise Chinese dictionaries.
How many strokes does ⺼ have?
⺼ is written in 4 strokes.