肉 meaning and stroke order
Meat; flesh; pulp (of a fruit)
How to write 肉, stroke by stroke
6 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
Meaning of 肉
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- meat
- flesh
- pulp (of a fruit)
- (coll.) (of a fruit) squashy
- (of a person) flabby
- irresolute
How 肉 is built
Pictographic character. Meat on the ribs of an animal.
How to remember 肉
肉 is a picture of meat on an animal's ribs. The outer frame 冂 is the cut of meat, and the two 人-like marks inside 仌 are the lines of ribs and fat you see in a slab of meat.
肉 (ròu) on its own usually means meat as food, and in everyday speech in many regions plain 肉 often means pork. To name a specific meat, put the animal first: 牛肉 (niúròu) beef, 鸡肉 (jīròu) chicken, 羊肉 (yángròu) mutton. Example: 我不吃肉。(Wǒ bù chī ròu.) I don't eat meat.
Common mistake: Learners often write the inside as two separate 人 that sit side by side, but in 肉 the top 人 sits higher and its strokes pass through the top of the frame, so it is not the same as 内 (nèi) with one extra piece. Also keep the fourth tone: ròu, not rōu or róu.
Common words with 肉
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 肌肉 | jīròu | muscle; flesh | HSK 5 |
| 烤肉 | kǎoròu | to barbecue meat; to roast meat; barbecued meat; roast meat | HSK 5 |
| 牛肉 | niúròu | beef | |
| 鸡肉 | jīròu | chicken meat | |
| 肉体 | ròutǐ | physical body | |
| 猪肉 | zhūròu | pork | |
| 行尸走肉 | xíngshīzǒuròu | walking corpse (idiom); zombie | |
| 羊肉 | yángròu | mutton; goat meat | |
| 肉桂 | ròuguì | Chinese cinnamon (Cinnamomum cassia) | |
| 肉类 | ròulèi | meat | |
| 骨肉 | gǔròu | blood relation; kin | |
| 肉眼 | ròuyǎn | naked eye; layman's eyes | |
| 肥肉 | féiròu | fat (e.g. pork fat); fatty meat | |
| 肉身 | ròushēn | corporeal body |
肉 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 肉
Learning 肉 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 肉
How many strokes are in 肉?
肉 is written with 6 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 肉 mean?
肉 (ròu) means meat; flesh; pulp (of a fruit). A common word with it is 肌肉 (jīròu), meaning "muscle; flesh".
How do you pronounce 肉?
肉 is pronounced ròu, in the fourth tone (falling).
Is 肉 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 肉 is part of the HSK 1 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard, and you are expected to write it by hand from HSK 1.
How do I say I am vegetarian using 肉?
You can say 我不吃肉 (wǒ bù chī ròu), I don't eat meat, or use the word 吃素 (chī sù), to eat vegetarian food. 我吃素 (wǒ chī sù) is the most natural way to say I am vegetarian.
Can 肉 describe things that are not meat?
Yes. It can mean the pulp or flesh of a fruit, as in 果肉 (guǒròu) fruit flesh. In casual speech it can also describe a fruit that is soft and squashy, or a person who is flabby or slow to make decisions.