Meaning of 胖
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- fat
- plump
- healthy
- at ease
How to use 胖
胖 (pàng) describes people and animals as fat or chubby, and it is often softened with 有点儿 or used affectionately for babies and pets. To talk about gaining weight, Chinese uses verbs like 长胖 (zhǎngpàng) or 发胖 (fāpàng). Example: 我最近长胖了。(Wǒ zuìjìn zhǎngpàng le.) I have put on weight recently.
胖 is made of 月 (the flesh radical, meaning body) and 半 (bàn, half). Picture a body that has grown by half again, and you have someone plump, with 半 also hinting at the sound.
Common mistake: Learners often use 肥 (féi) for people, but 肥 usually describes animals, fatty meat, or loose clothing, and calling a person 肥 sounds rude. Use 胖 for people instead.
胖 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.
胖 pàng · fat · 9 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 胖.
Questions about 胖
What does 胖 mean?
胖 (pàng) means "fat; plump" and is used as a adjective.
How do you write 胖?
胖 is made of 1 character: 胖 (9 strokes). That is 9 strokes in total.
Is 胖 an HSK word?
Yes. 胖 is on the HSK 3 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Is it rude to call someone 胖 in Chinese?
It can be, so be careful with adults. Among family and close friends it is common, and saying a baby is 胖 is often a compliment meaning healthy and cute.
When is 胖 read as pán?
The reading pán means healthy or at ease and appears mainly in the classical phrase 心广体胖 (xīn guǎng tǐ pán), a relaxed mind and a healthy body. In everyday speech you will almost always say pàng.