肺 (fèi): lung, CL:個|个

肺 (fèi) is a Chinese character meaning “lung.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of ⺼ (semantic) and 巿 (phonetic). It ranks #2012 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 肺 flesh. 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. lung
  2. CL:個|个

Etymology & Origin

肺

pictophoneticflesh

Decomposition: ⿰⺼巿 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 肺

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
肺炎nounfèi yánpneumonia6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
肺癌nounfèi áilung cancer
肺结核nounfèi jié hétuberculosis
肺水肿nounfèi shuǐ zhǒngpulmonary edema
肺病nounfèi bìnglung disease
肺腑adjectivefèi fǔbottom of the heart (fig.)
肺动脉nounfèi dòng màipulmonary artery
肺气肿nounfèi qì zhǒngemphysema
肺活量nounfèi huó liàng(medicine) vital capacity
感人肺腑gǎn rén fèi fǔ(idiom) deeply touching
肺腑之言phrasefèi fǔ zhī yánwords from the bottom of one's heart
肺脏nounfèi zànglungs
肺泡nounfèi pàopulmonary alveolus
肺痨nounfèi láotuberculosis
狼心狗肺phraseláng xīn gǒu fèilit. heart of wolf and lungs of dog (idiom)
驴肝肺lǘ gān fèi(lit.) a donkey's liver and lungs
52
Total compounds
42
As first character
31
As last character
27
As middle character

肺 appears in 52 compound words: 42 as the first character, 31 as the last, and 27 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 肺 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

炎yán
0.69124,712 co-occurrences
诊zhěn
0.6627,782 co-occurrences
癌ái
0.5814,956 co-occurrences
确què
0.5787,528 co-occurrences
冠guàn
0.55911,472 co-occurrences
疫yì
0.5323,364 co-occurrences
染rǎn
0.5223,836 co-occurrences
病bìng
0.5197,246 co-occurrences
毒dú
0.4943,270 co-occurrences
栓shuān
0.484360 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

肺腑之言fèifǔzhīyán

words from the heart; heartfelt words

phrase
感人肺腑gǎn rén fèi fǔ

(idiom) deeply touching

phrase
狼心狗肺lángxīngǒufèiHSK 6+

extremely cruel and evil; ungrateful; biting the hand that feeds one

phrase
没心没肺méixīnméifèiHSK 6+

inattentive; scatter-brained; heartless (usually jokingly between friends)

adjective
沁人肺腑qìn rén fèi fǔ

see 沁人心脾

phrase
沁人心肺qìn rén xīn fèiHSK 6+

see 沁人心脾

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

肺字的写法很特别,让我印象深刻。

fèi zì de xiě fǎ hěn tè bié , ràng wǒ yìn xiàng shēn kè .

The character for "lung" has a very distinctive writing style that left a deep impression on me.

99 健康网Mar 2026

老年人子宫下垂的治疗有哪些?手术前评估心肺功能耐受性吗

lǎo nián rén zǐ gōng xià chuí de zhì liáo yǒu nǎ xiē ? shǒu shù qián píng gū xīn fèi gōng néng nài shòu xìng ma

What are the treatments for uterine ptosis in the elderly? Is cardiorespiratory tolerability assessed before surgery?

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...最清新在台东!空气夺双冠 游客大口呼吸:肺都舒服了

. . . zuì qīng xīn zài tái dōng ! kōng qì duó shuāng guàn yóu kè dà kǒu hū xī : fèi dōu shū fú le

... The freshest in Taitung! The air won the double championship, and the tourists took a deep breath: their lungs were comfortable

Am730Feb 2026

土耳其业余球赛海鸥遭足球“击落” 球员心肺复苏救回(有片)

tǔ ěr qí yè yú qiú sài hǎi 鸥 zāo zú qiú jī luò qiú yuán xīn fèi fù sū jiù huí ( yǒu piàn )

Turkish amateur football game seagull was "shot down" by football player CPR rescued (there is a video)

StheadlineFeb 2026

...赛现暖心一幕 海鸥遭足球击中晕倒 球员心肺复苏救回

. . . sài xiàn nuǎn xīn yī mù hǎi 鸥 zāo zú qiú jī zhōng yūn dǎo qiú yuán xīn fèi fù sū jiù huí

... A heartwarming scene in the game, the seagull was hit by a football and fainted, and the player was rescued by cardiopulmonary resuscitation

EttodayFeb 2026

...婚变、事业低潮换绝情! 她叹:一个没心没肺的艺人

. . . hūn biàn , shì yè dī cháo huàn jué qíng ! tā tàn : yī gè méi xīn méi fèi de yì rén

... Marriage changes, career slumps for heartlessness! She sighed: A heartless artist

Tatoeba

你曾试过用水肺潜水吗?

Nǐ céng shì guo yòng shuǐfèi qiánshuǐ ma?

Have you ever tried scuba diving?

Tatoeba

吸烟影响了他的肺部。

Xīyān yǐngxiǎng le tā de fèibù.

Smoking has affected his lungs.

Tatoeba

我的父亲死于肺癌。

Wǒ de fùqīn sǐ yú fèi'ái.

My father died of lung cancer.

Tatoeba

这也可能会导致肺癌。

Zhè yě kěnéng huì dǎozhì fèi'ái.

This can also cause lung cancer.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the ⺼ (flesh) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced fèi

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 肺 (fèi) mean in Chinese?
肺 (fèi) primarily means "lung." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2012 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 肺 have?
肺 is written with 8 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 肺?
The radical associated with 肺 is 肉 (meat). This radical appears in many characters related to meat.
What are the components of 肺?
肺 is composed of: ⺼ (semantic), 巿 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰⺼巿 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 肺?
Common words with 肺 include: 肺炎 (fèi yán, "pneumonia"); 肺癌 (fèi ái, "lung cancer"); 肺结核 (fèi jié hé, "tuberculosis"); 肺水肿 (fèi shuǐ zhǒng, "pulmonary edema"); 肺病 (fèi bìng, "lung disease"). There are over 52 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 肺 (fèi)?
Several characters share the pronunciation fèi: 非 (to not be), 飞 (to fly), 费 (to cost), 废 (waste, to abandon), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 肺 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 肺 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 肺 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.