肥 meaning and stroke order
Fat; fertile; loose-fitting or large
How to write 肥, stroke by stroke
8 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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- 8
Meaning of 肥
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- fat
- fertile
- loose-fitting or large
- to fertilize
- to become rich by illegal means
- fertilizer
How 肥 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Flesh.
⺼ gives the meaning and 巴 hints at the sound.
Radical: ⺼ (meat), shared by 176 characters on this site.
How to remember 肥
The left side ⺼ is the flesh radical, so 肥 (féi) is about meat and body fat. The right side 巴 (bā) is listed as the sound part; picture a body with so much flesh that it bulges out like the curling shape of 巴.
肥 describes fatty meat, fertile soil, and loose or baggy clothes. In everyday speech it most often appears in words like 减肥 (jiǎnféi) and 肥皂 (féizào). Example: 我在减肥。(Wǒ zài jiǎnféi.) I am on a diet.
Common mistake: Learners often call a person 肥 directly. That sounds rude, like calling someone a fat animal, so use 胖 (pàng) for people and keep 肥 for meat, animals, soil, and clothes. Also note the right side is 巴, not 色 (sè), which has an extra top part.
Common words with 肥
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
肥 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 肥
Learning 肥 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 肥
How many strokes are in 肥?
肥 is written with 8 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 肥 mean?
肥 (féi) means fat; fertile; loose-fitting or large. A common word with it is 减肥 (jiǎnféi), meaning "to lose weight".
How do you pronounce 肥?
肥 is pronounced féi, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 肥?
The radical of 肥 is ⺼, which carries the idea of "meat". Dictionaries list 肥 under this radical.
Is 肥 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 肥 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 does 肥皂 mean soap if 肥 means fat?
Traditional soap was made from fat, and 皂 (zào) refers to a cleaning agent. So 肥皂 (féizào) is literally a fatty cleaner. 肥皂剧 (féizàojù) borrows this word to translate the English term soap opera.
Can 肥 describe clothes?
Yes. 肥 can mean loose or baggy, as in 这条裤子太肥了 (zhè tiáo kùzi tài féi le), these trousers are too loose. The opposite is 瘦 (shòu), meaning tight or narrow.