胳 meaning and stroke order
Arms; armpit
How to write 胳, stroke by stroke
10 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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Meaning of 胳
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- armpit
- variant of 胳[ge1]
- used in 胳肢窩|胳肢窝[ga1 zhi5 wo1]
- used in 胳肢[ge2 zhi5]
How 胳 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Flesh.
⺼ gives the meaning and 各 hints at the sound.
Radical: ⺼ (meat), shared by 176 characters on this site.
How to remember 胳
The left side ⺼ is the flesh radical, so 胳 is a body part. The right side 各 (gè) gives the sound, so think of each (各) arm made of flesh.
胳 almost never appears alone. You will mostly see it in 胳膊 (gēbo), the everyday word for arm. Example: 我的胳膊很疼。(Wǒ de gēbo hěn téng.) My arm hurts a lot.
Common mistake: Learners often write 各 (gè) or read 胳 with a fourth tone because of its phonetic part, but in 胳膊 it is first tone gē. Also do not confuse 胳 with 格 (gé), which has the tree radical 木 instead of flesh.
Common words with 胳
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 胳膊 | gēbo | arm | HSK 7-9 |
胳 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 胳
How many strokes are in 胳?
胳 is written with 10 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 胳 mean?
胳 (gē) means arms; armpit. A common word with it is 胳膊 (gēbo), meaning "arm".
How do you pronounce 胳?
胳 is pronounced gē, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 胳?
The radical of 胳 is ⺼, which carries the idea of "meat". Dictionaries list 胳 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 胳?
The traditional form of 胳 is 肐. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 胳 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 胳 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 胳 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do you say armpit in Chinese with 胳?
Use 胳肢窝 (gāzhiwō), where 胳 is read gā. In this word the tone changes, so it is not gē.
What does 胳肢 (gézhi) mean?
胳肢 (gézhi) is a colloquial verb meaning to tickle someone. Here 胳 is read with the second tone, gé.