膀 (bǎng): upper arm, wing, used in 吊膀子

膀 (bǎng) is a Chinese character meaning “upper arm.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of ⺼ (structural) and 旁 (structural). It ranks #1916 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 膀 flesh ⺼ beside 旁 the body; 旁 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 肉 (meat) appears in many related characters such as 肉 (ròu, meat), 能 (néng, can), 背 (bèi, the back of a body or object).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. upper arm
  2. wing
  3. used in 吊膀子

Etymology & Origin

膀

ideographicFlesh ⺼ beside 旁 the body; 旁 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰⺼旁 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Practice writing 膀 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 膀

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
肩膀nounjiān bǎngshoulder6
翅膀nounchì bǎngwing5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
膀胱nounpáng guāngurinary bladder
臂膀nounbì bǎngarm
膀子nounbǎng ziupper arm
左膀右臂nounzuǒ bǎng yòu bì(idiom) trusted assistant
膀臂nounbǎng bìupper arm
膀胱炎nounpáng guāng yáncystitis
光膀子verbguāng bǎng zibare upper body
甩开膀子shuǎi kāi bǎng zito throw off inhibitions
膀胱气化páng guāng qì huà(TCM) the extraction of impure fluid by the kidneys and the passing of it from the body by the bladder as urine
有肩膀yǒu jiān bǎngresponsible
膀大腰圆phrasebǎng dà yāo yuántall and strong
吊膀子verbdiào bàng zi(dialect) to flirt (derog.)
膀爷nounbǎng yétopless guy (man who, in a public place, is not wearing a shirt)
溜肩膀nounliū jiān bǎngsloping shoulders
翅膀硬phrasechì bǎng yìng(of a bird) to fledge
19
Total compounds
37
As first character
32
As last character
32
As middle character

膀 appears in 19 compound words: 37 as the first character, 32 as the last, and 32 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 膀 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

翅chì
0.82213,182 co-occurrences
肩jiān
0.7064,591 co-occurrences
凸tū
0.60711 co-occurrences
肚dù
0.57010 co-occurrences
臂bì
0.519816 co-occurrences
尿niào
0.451187 co-occurrences
癌ái
0.430366 co-occurrences
蝴hú
0.413120 co-occurrences
蝶dié
0.400260 co-occurrences
扛gāng
0.38428 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

膀大腰圆bǎngdà-yāoyuánHSK 5+

tall and brawny

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

翅膀受伤的鸟儿无法飞翔,需要人类的帮助。

Chìbǎng shòushāng de niǎor wúfǎ fēixiáng, xūyào rénlèi de bāngzhù.

Birds with injured wings cannot fly and need human help.

99 健康网Mar 2026

前列腺颤动哭叫是快尿了吗?膀胱空虚时仍感尿意正常吗

qián liè xiàn chàn dòng kū jiào shì kuài niào le ma ? bǎng 胱 kōng xū shí réng gǎn niào yì zhèng cháng ma

Does a trembling, crying sensation in the prostate mean I need to urinate? Is it normal to still feel the urge to urinate even when the bladder is empty?

99 健康网Mar 2026

...憋尿勒肚子小腹凸的要收紧核心吗?反而增加膀胱压力不利

. . . biē niào lè dù zǐ xiǎo fù tū de yāo shōu jǐn hé xīn ma ? fǎn ér zēng jiā bǎng 胱 yā lì bù lì

...Should I tighten my core when I hold my urine and my lower abdomen bulges? Won’t that actually increase pressure on the bladder and be counterproductive?

99 健康网Mar 2026

双男张腿憋尿勒肚子小腹凸的正常吗?膀胱充盈推挤腹部向前吗

shuāng nán zhāng tuǐ biē niào lè dù zǐ xiǎo fù tū de zhèng cháng ma ? bǎng 胱 chōng yíng tuī jǐ fù bù xiàng qián ma

Is it normal for two men to spread their legs, hold in their urine, and have a protruding lower abdomen? Does a full bladder push the abdomen forward?

NewsFeb 2026

为冰雪产业插上创新翅膀_光明网

wéi bīng xuě chǎn yè chā shàng chuàng xīn chì bǎng guāng míng wǎng

Insert innovative wings for the ice and snow industry_Guangming.com

99 健康网Feb 2026

男生小便完甩一下和膀胱排空有关吗?确保残余尿最少对吗

nán shēng xiǎo biàn wán shuǎi yī xià hé bǎng 胱 pái kōng yǒu guān ma ? què bǎo cán yú niào zuì shǎo duì ma

Does shaking after urination help empty the bladder? Is minimizing residual urine the goal?

Tatoeba

她把头枕在母亲的肩膀上。

Tā bǎtóu zhěn zài mǔqīn de jiānbǎng shàng.

She rested her head on her mother's shoulder.

Tatoeba

鹰的一只翅膀断了。

Yīng de yī zhī chìbǎng duàn le.

One of the hawk's wings is broken.

Tatoeba

汤姆给玛丽冷的肩膀。

Tāngmǔ gěi Mǎlì lěng de jiānbǎng.

Tom gave Mary the cold shoulder.

Tatoeba

这只燕子的翅膀受伤了。

Zhè zhī yànzi de chìbǎng shòushāng le.

This swallow's wing is injured.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced bǎng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 膀 (bǎng) mean in Chinese?
膀 (bǎng) primarily means "upper arm." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1916 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 膀 have?
膀 is written with 14 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 膀?
The radical associated with 膀 is 肉 (meat). This radical appears in many characters related to meat.
What are the components of 膀?
膀 is composed of: ⺼ (structural), 旁 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰⺼旁 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 膀?
Common words with 膀 include: 肩膀 (jiān bǎng, "shoulder"); 翅膀 (chì bǎng, "wing"); 膀胱 (páng guāng, "urinary bladder"); 臂膀 (bì bǎng, "arm"); 膀子 (bǎng zi, "upper arm"). There are over 19 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 膀 (bǎng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation bǎng: 帮 (to help), 邦 ((bound form) country), 棒 (stick), 绑 (to tie), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 膀 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 膀 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 膀 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.