肚 meaning and stroke order
Belly; abdomen, bowels
How to write 肚, stroke by stroke
7 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
- 7
Meaning of 肚
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- tripe
- belly
How 肚 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Flesh.
⺼ gives the meaning and 土 hints at the sound.
Radical: ⺼ (meat), shared by 176 characters on this site.
How to remember 肚
肚 is pictophonetic: the flesh radical ⺼ on the left points to the body, and 土 (tǔ) on the right gives the sound. Picture a round mound of earth 土 made of flesh, like a belly sticking out.
肚 almost always appears in words, most often 肚子 (dùzi), the everyday word for belly or stomach. It shows up in common phrases about hunger and illness, such as 饿肚子 (è dùzi) and 拉肚子 (lā dùzi). Example: 我肚子饿了。(Wǒ dùzi è le.) I'm hungry.
Common mistake: Learners often write the left side as 月 and forget that here it means flesh, then mix 肚 up with 吐 (tǔ, to spit), which has 口 instead of ⺼. Also note the tone is fourth tone dù for belly, not third tone like 土 (tǔ).
Common words with 肚
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 肚子 | dùzi | belly; abdomen | HSK 4 |
| 心知肚明 | xīnzhīdùmíng | to be well aware | |
| 肚子痛 | dùzitòng | stomachache; bellyache | |
| 拉肚子 | lādùzi | (coll.) to have diarrhea | |
| 肚皮 | dùpí | belly | |
| 大肚子 | dàdùzi | pregnant; potbelly | |
| 肚脐 | dùqí | navel | |
| 饿肚子 | èdùzi | to go hungry; to starve | |
| 下肚 | xiàdù | to consume (food or drink); to eat; to drink | |
| 一肚子 | yīdùzi | bellyful (of sth); full of (sth) |
肚 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 肚
How many strokes are in 肚?
肚 is written with 7 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 肚 mean?
肚 (dù) means belly; abdomen, bowels. A common word with it is 肚子 (dùzi), meaning "belly; abdomen".
How do you pronounce 肚?
肚 is pronounced dù, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 肚?
The radical of 肚 is ⺼, which carries the idea of "meat". Dictionaries list 肚 under this radical.
Is 肚 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 肚 is part of the HSK 4 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard, and you are expected to write it by hand from HSK 3.
Why is 肚 sometimes pronounced dǔ?
When it means animal stomach used as food, it is read dǔ, meaning tripe. You see this on menus, for example 羊肚 (yáng dǔ) lamb tripe. For a person's belly, use dù.
What does 心知肚明 mean and when do I use it?
心知肚明 (xīnzhīdùmíng) means to know something clearly in your heart without saying it out loud. It is used when everyone understands the truth but nobody states it, for example 大家心知肚明 (dàjiā xīnzhīdùmíng), everyone knows perfectly well.