What does 肉 mean in Chinese?

肉 is a Chinese character with the radical 肉.

How do you write 肉?

肉 is written with 6 strokes, starting from the 肉 (meat) radical and following standard Chinese stroke order (top to bottom, left to right). See the interactive stroke-order tool for the full animation.

What is the radical of 肉?

The radical of 肉 is 肉 (meat, Kangxi radical #130).

How many strokes does 肉 have?

The Chinese character 肉 has 6 strokes.

What HSK level is 肉?

On the new HSK exam syllabus, 肉 is a character to recognise at HSK 2.

肉: Chinese Character Details

肉

HSK 2 character 6 strokes Radical: 肉 (meat)

Quick Answer

肉 is a Chinese character with 6 strokes, radical 肉 (meat), HSK 2 on the new exam.

Full dictionary entry for 肉 →Animated stroke-order for 肉 →

Etymology

Oracle-bone origin

The oracle-bone form of 肉 is a pictograph of a piece of cut flesh or a rib of meat, shown as an oval or rectangular shape with one or two horizontal lines inside representing muscle striations or ribs. Bronze forms keep this ribbed chunk clearly recognisable. It is a direct drawing of meat, not a composite.

Form evolution

Seal script stylised the chunk into a rounded outline with two short internal strokes. Clerical script squared the outline and straightened the interior strokes, producing a shape close to the modern 肉. As a radical on the left or bottom of other characters, 肉 was flattened into 月, which is why body-part characters like 肝, 脾, 胃, 脸 carry what looks like the moon radical but is actually meat.

How the meaning evolved

The original and still primary meaning is meat or flesh of an animal, as in 牛肉, 猪肉. It extended to the flesh of fruits (果肉) and to the body or physical substance more broadly (肉体, 血肉). Colloquial modern Mandarin has also developed 肉 as a slangy adjective meaning slow, soft, or lacking in impact, a metaphorical extension from the idea of flabby flesh.

Cultural note

The 月 component in the majority of body-part characters is the meat radical 肉 in disguise, not the moon. Distinguishing 朋 (two moons, friend) from 肝 (meat plus phonetic, liver) is a classical example used to teach this in calligraphy and paleography classes.

Mnemonic

Slabs of flesh inside a frame — meat

Basic info

Stroke count	6 strokes
Radical	肉 (#130: meat)
New HSK exam	Recognise at HSK 2
Frequency	#1044 most common

Example sentences

我喜欢吃羊肉。
Wǒ xǐhuan chī yángròu.
I like eating mutton.
From 羊肉
运动能增强肌肉力量。
Yùndòng néng zēngqiáng jīròu lìliàng.
Exercise can strengthen muscle power.
From 肌肉 (HSK 5)