contributes the sense of meat · Kangxi radical 130

contributes the sense of meat, flesh, and by extension the body and things made of flesh

The old graph is a picture of a cut slab of meat, with two curved lines inside standing for the streaks of sinew or the rib bones running through it. The modern 肉 keeps that shape: an outer frame like the edge of the cut, with two small 人-like strokes inside marking the marbling. When squeezed onto the left side of a character it is usually flattened into 月, but in the characters here it stays whole and sits underneath or inside — as in 腐, meat left to rot, and 脔 or 胬, which both name pieces of flesh.

肉 at a glance

Meaning
contributes the sense of meat
Strokes
6
Characters
5
Role
Contributes meaning
Kangxi radical
130

Characters with 肉 (4 of 5)

HSK 5 · 1

HSK 6 · 1

Beyond HSK · 2

Frequently asked questions

What does the component 肉 mean?

肉 means "contributes the sense of meat". In the characters that contain it, it contributes meaning.

How many Chinese characters contain 肉?

5 characters in this dictionary contain 肉, including ones at HSK 5, HSK 6.

Is 肉 a radical?

Yes — 肉 is Kangxi radical 130, one of the 214 traditional indexing radicals used to organise Chinese dictionaries.

How many strokes does 肉 have?

肉 is written in 6 strokes.