脂 meaning and stroke order
Fat, grease, lard, oil
How to write 脂, 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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- 10
Meaning of 脂
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- fat
- rouge (cosmetics)
- resin
How 脂 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Flesh.
⺼ gives the meaning and 旨 hints at the sound.
Radical: ⺼ (meat), shared by 176 characters on this site.
How to remember 脂
The flesh radical ⺼ on the left tells you this is about the body, and 旨 (zhǐ) on the right gives the sound. Picture the tasty, rich part of meat: the fat.
脂 rarely stands alone in modern Chinese and usually appears in compounds like 脂肪 (zhīfáng) for body or food fat, 油脂 (yóuzhī) for grease, and 树脂 (shùzhī) for resin. Example: 这种牛奶脂肪很低。(Zhè zhǒng niúnǎi zhīfáng hěn dī.) This milk is very low in fat.
Common mistake: Learners often read 脂 with the third tone because its phonetic part 旨 is zhǐ, but 脂 is first tone, zhī. Also do not confuse it with 指 (zhǐ, finger), which has the hand radical 扌 instead of ⺼.
Common words with 脂
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
脂 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 脂
How many strokes are in 脂?
脂 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 脂 mean?
脂 (zhī) means fat, grease, lard, oil. A common word with it is 脂肪 (zhīfáng), meaning "fat (in the body, in a plant, or in food)".
How do you pronounce 脂?
脂 is pronounced zhī, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 脂?
The radical of 脂 is ⺼, which carries the idea of "meat". Dictionaries list 脂 under this radical.
Is 脂 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 脂 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 油 and 脂?
油 (yóu) is the everyday word for oil, especially liquid cooking oil. 脂 is more formal or technical and suggests solid fat or fatty substances, which is why the general term 油脂 (yóuzhī) combines both.
Why does 脂 appear in the word for rouge?
Traditional rouge was a fatty, greasy paste, so the word 胭脂 (yānzhī) uses 脂. You also see it in 脂粉 (zhīfěn), rouge and powder, a literary way to refer to cosmetics.