肌 (jī): muscle

肌 (jī) is a Chinese character meaning “muscle.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of ⺼ (semantic) and 几 (phonetic). It ranks #1911 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 肌 flesh. Its radical form 月 (moon) appears in many related characters such as 月 (yuè, moon, month), 有 (yǒu, to have), 朋 (péng, friend).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. muscle

Etymology & Origin

肌

pictophoneticflesh

Decomposition: ⿰⺼几 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 肌

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
肌肉nounjī ròumuscle5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
肌肤nounjī fūskin
腹肌nounfù jīabdominal muscle
括约肌nounkuò yuē jīsphincter
肌腱nounjī jiàntendon (anatomy)
心肌nounxīn jīmyocardium
胸肌nounxiōng jīpectoral muscles
心肌梗塞nounxīn jī gěng sè(Tw) myocardial infarction
肌体nounjī tǐthe body
心肌炎nounxīn jī yánmyocarditis
平滑肌nounpíng huá jīsmooth muscle (anatomy)
横纹肌nounhéng wén jīstriated muscle
肋间肌nounlèi jiān jīintercostal muscle
肌理nounjī lǐtexture (of skin, surface etc)
骨骼肌noungǔ gé jīstriated muscle
不随意肌nounbù suí yì jīinvoluntary muscle
82
Total compounds
27
As first character
56
As last character
17
As middle character

肌 appears in 82 compound words: 27 as the first character, 56 as the last, and 17 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 肌 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

肉ròu
0.68919,017 co-occurrences
剔tī
0.56110 co-occurrences
萎wěi
0.561908 co-occurrences
骼gé
0.5401,131 co-occurrences
弛chí
0.510397 co-occurrences
灶zào
0.50511 co-occurrences
肤fū
0.479457 co-occurrences
宫gōng
0.47641 co-occurrences
骨gǔ
0.4742,088 co-occurrences
痹bì
0.47298 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (10)

八块腹肌bā kuài fù jīHSK 7+

six pack (abdominal muscles)

phrase
冰肌玉骨bīng jī yù gǔHSK 6+

(idiom) (of a woman) having fair, flawless skin and a graceful, refined beauty

phrase
不随意肌bùsuíyìjīHSK 5+

involuntary muscle

noun
肌肉注射jīròu zhùshèHSK 6+

intramuscular injection

noun
肌原纤维jīyuánxiānwéiHSK 7+

myofibril

noun
脸黄肌瘦liǎn huáng jī shòuHSK 5+

see 面黃肌瘦|面黄肌瘦

phrase
面黄肌瘦miànhuángjīshòuHSK 5+

to have a sallow complexion and emaciated body; to look sick or malnourished

phrase
心肌梗塞xīnjī gěngsè

myocardial infarction; heart attack

noun
心肌梗死xīnjī gěngsǐ

myocardial infarction; heart attack

noun
沦肌浃髓lún jī jiā suǐ

lit. penetrate to the marrow (idiom); deeply affected; moved to the core

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

经常锻炼可以增强肌肉力量,提高身体素质。

Jīngcháng duànliàn kěyǐ zēngqiáng jīròu lìliàng, tígāo shēntǐ sùzhì.

Regular exercise can strengthen muscle power and improve physical fitness.

99 健康网Feb 2026

...内低回声有几种可能?包括妊娠囊、血块或小肌瘤吗

. . . nèi dī huí shēng yǒu jī zhǒng kě néng ? bāo kuò 妊 娠 náng , xiě kuài huò xiǎo jī liú ma

... How many possibilities are there for internal hypoechoic? Including gestational sacs, blood clots, or small fibroids

99 健康网Feb 2026

...子下面窄到一根手指都疼是怎么回事?和盆底肌过度紧张有关吗

. . . zǐ xià miàn zhǎi dào yī gēn shǒu zhǐ dōu téng shì zěn má huí shì ? hé pén de jī guò dù jǐn zhāng yǒu guān ma

... What's going on with the bottom of the sub so narrow that a finger hurts? Is it related to excessive tension in the pelvic floor muscles?

99 健康网Feb 2026

男生小便后甩一甩会不会导致尿失禁?盆底肌松弛者需谨慎吗

nán shēng xiǎo biàn hòu shuǎi yī shuǎi huì bù huì dǎo zhì niào shī jīn ? pén de jī sōng chí zhě xū jǐn shèn ma

Will a boy's throw after urinating cause urinary incontinence? Should people with loose pelvic floor muscles be cautious?

EttodayFeb 2026

27岁男健身突胸痛肿胀 竟是罕见“胸大肌断裂”

2 7 suì nán jiàn shēn tū xiōng tòng zhǒng zhàng jìng shì hǎn jiàn xiōng dà jī duàn liè

The 27-year-old man's sudden chest pain and swelling during fitness is actually a rare "pectoralis major muscle rupture"

百度新闻Feb 2026

科学内调成美肤新刚需,肌原光以“产学研”硬实力登陆..

kē xué nèi diào chéng měi fū xīn gāng xū , jī yuán guāng yǐ chǎn xué yán yìng shí lì dēng lù . .

Scientific internal adjustment has become a new demand for skin beauty, the original light with "production, research" hard power to land...

Tatoeba

一般说来,男生的肌肉比女生发达。

Yībānshuōlái, nánshēng de jīròu bǐ nǚshēng fādá.

Generally speaking, men are physically stronger than women.

Tatoeba

记住,运动有助于增强肌肉和骨骼。

Jìzhu, yùndòng yǒuzhùyú zēngqiáng jīròu hé gǔgé.

Remember, exercise helps strengthen your muscles and bones.

Tatoeba

海格力斯有强健的肌肉。

Hǎi Gélì sī yǒu qiángjiàn de jīròu.

Hercules had strong muscles.

Tatoeba

他的腿部肌肉在他卧床不起的七个月中萎缩了。

Tā de tuǐbù jīròu zài tā wòchuáng bù qǐ de qī gè yuè zhōng wěisuō le.

The muscles in his legs had atrophied during the seven months he was bedridden.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the ⺼ (flesh) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced jī

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 肌 (jī) mean in Chinese?
肌 (jī) primarily means "muscle." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1911 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 肌 and 铅?
肌 (jī) and 铅 (qiān) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 月 vs 钅 (same 几 component).
How many strokes does 肌 have?
肌 is written with 6 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 肌?
The radical associated with 肌 is 月 (moon). This radical appears in many characters related to moon.
What are the components of 肌?
肌 is composed of: ⺼ (semantic), 几 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰⺼几 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 肌?
Common words with 肌 include: 肌肉 (jī ròu, "muscle"); 肌肤 (jī fū, "skin"); 腹肌 (fù jī, "abdominal muscle"); 括约肌 (kuò yuē jī, "sphincter"); 肌腱 (jī jiàn, "tendon (anatomy)"). There are over 82 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 肌 (jī)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jī: 饥 ((bound form) hungry), 玑 ((literary) baroque pearl), 讥 (to ridicule), 机 (machine, opportunity), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 肌 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 肌 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 肌 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.