Meaning of 肥
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- fat
- fertile
- loose-fitting or large
- to fertilize
- to become rich by illegal means
- fertilizer
- manure
How to use 肥
肥 describes fat animals, fatty meat, fertile soil, and loose clothes, but it is rarely used directly for people because it sounds rude. For people, Chinese speakers say 胖 (pàng) or the formal 肥胖 (féipàng). Example: 这条裤子太肥了。(Zhè tiáo kùzi tài féi le.) These pants are too loose.
肥 has the meat radical 月 (ròu) on the left, which marks body and flesh. Picture the right side 巴 as a round belly attached to the body, and you get fat.
Common mistake: Learners often call a person 肥, like 你很肥, which sounds insulting, as if talking about livestock. Use 胖 (pàng) for people instead, and keep 肥 for meat, animals, soil, and clothing.
肥 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
肥 féi · fat · 8 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 肥.
Questions about 肥
What does 肥 mean?
肥 (féi) means "fat; fertile" and is used as a adjective.
How do you write 肥?
肥 is made of 1 character: 肥 (8 strokes). That is 8 strokes in total.
Is 肥 an HSK word?
Yes. 肥 is on the HSK 4 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why does 减肥 use 肥 if 肥 is rude for people?
减肥 (jiǎnféi) is a fixed compound meaning to lose weight, and it is completely neutral. The rudeness only comes from using 肥 alone to describe someone.
Why is 肥 in 肥皂 (soap)?
In 肥皂 (féizào), 肥 points to fat or grease, since soap was traditionally made from fats. It does not mean the soap is fat or large.