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字源zìyuánEtymology & Structure
字源洞见 zìyuán dòngjiàn · Etymological Insight
The whole glyph is the picture: a slab of butchered meat. The outer frame is the cut of flesh, and the two short strokes inside are the marbling, the seams of fat and grain that run through muscle. Hold a piece of pork belly to the light and you see exactly what the oracle-bone scribe drew, the striations packed inside a rounded outline. 肉 is its own radical, classifier 130, the head of a family that covers every soft, fleshy part of an animal body.
The seal script kept the slab whole and upright, the way the character still stands today when it means meat as a noun. But scribes who had to fit 肉 onto the left edge of a compound flattened and narrowed it until it became 月, the so-called flesh-moon. This 月 is a different beast from the 月 that means moon, though the two converged in shape. When you see 月 hugging the left side of a character about the body, it is this meat radical: 胖 (pàng, fat), 脸 (liǎn, face), 腿 (tuǐ, leg), 肝 (gān, liver), 胃 (wèi, stomach). Almost the entire vocabulary of human anatomy is built on this squeezed slab of meat.
From the literal cut of flesh the sense fanned outward. It became flesh on a living body as opposed to bone (血肉, xuèròu, blood and flesh), then the soft yielding part of anything: the pulp of a peach (果肉, guǒròu), the meat of a walnut. The Shuōwén defines 肉 plainly as the flesh of birds and beasts, and every later sense is a step out from that knife-edge meaning.
Japanese borrowed the character as 肉 (niku), where it still means meat, and the radical 月 / ⺼ does the same anatomical labor across Sino-Japanese vocabulary. The slab survives wherever the body is written.
肉类ròulèiKinds of Meat
Name an animal, append 肉, and you have its meat. 牛 (niú, cow) plus 肉 is beef; 鸡 (jī, chicken) plus 肉 is chicken meat. The pattern is fully productive, which is why a beginner who knows the animals already knows the butcher's counter.
牛肉niúròubeef
N 名词 míngcí
牛 (niú, ox/cow) + 肉 (meat). The default word for beef on every menu, from noodle soup to stir-fry.
这家店的牛肉面很有名。
Zhè jiā diàn de niúròu miàn hěn yǒumíng.
This shop's beef noodles are famous.
鸡肉jīròuchicken (meat)
N 名词 míngcí
鸡 (jī, chicken) + 肉 (meat). The meat itself, distinct from 鸡 (jī) the live bird or whole roasted fowl.
我不吃猪肉，只吃鸡肉。
Wǒ bù chī zhūròu, zhǐ chī jīròu.
I don't eat pork, only chicken.
辨析 biànxī · 鸡 vs. 鸡肉 鸡 can mean the whole bird; 鸡肉 points specifically at the meat as an ingredient.
猪肉zhūròupork
N 名词 míngcí
猪 (zhū, pig) + 肉 (meat). The most-eaten meat in China, so common that 肉 alone often means pork by default in recipes.
红烧肉是用猪肉做的。
Hóngshāo ròu shì yòng zhūròu zuò de.
Red-braised pork is made with pork belly.
羊肉yángròumutton, lamb
N 名词 míngcí
羊 (yáng, sheep/goat) + 肉 (meat). The meat of choice in the northwest, central to hotpot and skewers.
冬天吃羊肉可以暖身。
Dōngtiān chī yángròu kěyǐ nuǎn shēn.
Eating mutton in winter warms the body.
血肉xuèròuFlesh & Body
引申义 yǐnshēnyì · Extended Sense
Lifted off the cutting board, 肉 becomes the living flesh of a body, paired with 骨 (gǔ, bone) and 血 (xuè, blood) to mark the physical, mortal self against the spirit or the mind. This is the 肉 of 肉体 and 肉眼, the side of a person that can be touched, that ages, that dies.
肉体ròutǐthe physical body, the flesh
N 名词 míngcí
肉 (flesh) + 体 (tǐ, body). The bodily, corporeal self, set against 精神 (jīngshén, spirit) or 灵魂 (línghún, soul).
他相信灵魂会离开肉体。
Tā xiāngxìn línghún huì líkāi ròutǐ.
He believes the soul leaves the body.
辨析 biànxī · 肉体 vs. 身体身体 (shēntǐ) is the neutral, everyday word for the body and its health; 肉体 stresses the mortal flesh against the spirit.
肌肉jīròumuscle
N 名词 míngcí
肌 (jī, muscle tissue) + 肉 (flesh). The fibrous flesh that moves the body; both characters carry the 月 flesh-radical.
他每天健身，肌肉很发达。
Tā měitiān jiànshēn, jīròu hěn fādá.
He works out daily and is very muscular.
肉眼ròuyǎnthe naked eye
N 名词 míngcí
肉 (flesh) + 眼 (yǎn, eye). The unaided eye of flesh, as opposed to a telescope or microscope.
这颗星星肉眼看不见。
Zhè kē xīngxing ròuyǎn kàn bú jiàn.
This star can't be seen with the naked eye.
果肉guǒròuPulp & Texture
果肉guǒròufruit pulp, flesh of fruit
N 名词 míngcí
果 (guǒ, fruit) + 肉 (flesh). The soft edible part between the skin and the pit, the meat of the fruit.
这种芒果果肉很厚。
Zhè zhǒng mángguǒ guǒròu hěn hòu.
This kind of mango has thick flesh.
辨析 biànxī · 果肉 vs. 果皮 果肉 is the flesh you eat; 果皮 (guǒpí) is the skin or peel you discard.
肉麻ròumásappy, cloying, cringe-inducing
Adj 形容词 xíngróngcí
肉 (flesh) + 麻 (má, numb, tingling). The skin-crawling feeling of words too sweet or sentimental, the goosebumps of secondhand embarrassment.
他说的情话太肉麻了。
Tā shuō de qínghuà tài ròumá le.
His sweet talk is way too sappy.
肉松ròusōngmeat floss, dried pork floss
N 名词 míngcí
肉 (meat) + 松 (sōng, loose, fluffy). Meat dried and shredded into airy fibers, scattered over porridge or buns.
骨肉相连gǔ ròu xiāng liánbone and flesh joined together: bound by blood kinshipThe image is that bone and flesh cannot be pulled apart. Used for the inseparable bond between family members, and figuratively for a homeland and its people.
血肉相连xuè ròu xiāng liánblood and flesh linked: tied as closely as flesh to bloodA near-twin of 骨肉相连, stressing the living, circulating closeness between people, or between an individual and a cause they cannot separate from.
鱼肉百姓yú ròu bǎi xìngto make fish-meat of the common people: to oppress and exploit themHere 鱼肉 is a verb: to treat people as meat to be carved up. A classical condemnation of tyrannical officials, traceable to the Shǐjì. Still used to denounce abuse of power.
行尸走肉xíng shī zǒu ròua walking corpse, moving flesh: a person alive in body but dead in spiritFrom the Eastern Han. The picture is a body that walks without a mind or purpose behind it. Said of someone living mechanically, drained of will or feeling.
记忆法 jìyìfǎ · Master Retention Image
Set a thick slab of pork belly on the cutting board and look straight down at it. The rounded outline is the edge of the cut; the pale ribbons running through it are the marbling, the fat and grain. Those ribbons are the two strokes locked inside the frame of 肉. The whole character is a single piece of meat seen from above, seams and all.
Now imagine pressing that slab flat against the left wall of a kitchen so it thins out into a strip. That strip is 月, the flesh-moon. Every body part written with 月 on its left, the 脸 (liǎn, face), the 腿 (tuǐ, leg), the 胃 (wèi, stomach), is the same slab, squeezed sideways to make room. When you meet 月 hugging the left edge of a body character, hear it as 肉: this is flesh, not moon.
The slab then leaves the kitchen for the orchard. Slice a peach and the soft sweet part is 果肉 (guǒròu), the meat of the fruit. Whether it is muscle on a bone, pulp around a pit, or pork in a bowl, 肉 is always the same thing: the soft, yielding, edible body of a living thing.
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