胚 (pēi): embryo

胚 (pēi) is a Chinese character meaning “embryo.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of ⺼ (semantic) and 丕 (phonetic). It ranks #2707 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 胚 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).

Native pronunciation

HSK 7-9 Radical: 肉 meat11 strokesFrequency #2707⺼ semantic 丕 phonetic

Definitions

embryo

Etymology & Origin

胚

pictophoneticflesh

Decomposition: ⿰⺼丕 (layout: left-right)

Components:⺼semantic 丕phonetic

Stroke Order

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
胚胎	pēi tāi	embryo
胚胎学	pēi tāi xué	embryology
囊胚	náng pēi	(zoology) blastula
胚芽	pēi yá	bud
美人胚子	měi rén pēi zi	(coll.) girl who shows signs of becoming a beauty
三胚层动物	sān pēi céng dòng wù	triploblastic animals (having three germ layers)
胚胎发生	pēi tāi fā shēng	embryogenesis
中胚层	zhōng pēi céng	mesoderm (cell lineage in embryology)
外胚层	wài pēi céng	ectoderm (cell lineage in embryology)
内胚层	nèi pēi céng	endoderm (cell lineage in embryology)
色胚	sè pēi	(slang) pervert
小麦胚芽	xiǎo mài pēi yá	wheat germ
胚层	pēi céng	germ layer
麦胚	mài pēi	wheat germ
胚芽米	pēi yá mǐ	semipolished rice (i.e. rice minus the husk, but including the germ)

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

胚 appears in 22 compound words: 55 as the first character, 18 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 胚 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

胎tāi

0.73915,802 co-occurrences

芽yá

0.492726 co-occurrences

囊náng

0.465642 co-occurrences

乳rǔ

0.4581,002 co-occurrences

蝇yíng

0.43390 co-occurrences

珠zhū

0.4251,194 co-occurrences

癌ái

0.414498 co-occurrences

胞bāo

0.410942 co-occurrences

细xì

0.390666 co-occurrences

肠cháng

0.389126 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

美人胚子měirén pēiziHSK 7+

beauty in the making; girl who has the potential to grow into a beauty

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

老师教我们胚字的发音和笔顺。

lǎo shī jiào wǒ men pēi zì de fā yīn hé bǐ shùn .

The teacher taught us the pronunciation and stroke order of the character "胚."

東方日報Apr 2026

郭富城细女侧面照曝光高颜值获赞美人胚子

guō fù chéng xì nǚ cè miàn zhào pù guāng gāo yán zhí huò zàn měi rén pēi zǐ

99 健康网Feb 2026

吃了避孕药意外怀孕了孩子能要吗?药物对胚胎有致畸风险吗

chī le bì yùn yào yì wài huái yùn le hái zǐ néng yāo ma ? yào wù duì pēi tāi yǒu zhì jī fēng xiǎn ma

Can I have a child if I take birth control pills and get pregnant unexpectedly? Does the drug pose a teratogenic risk to the embryo?

Tatoeba

你们两个无聊胚子！

Nǐmen liǎng gè wúliáo pēi zǐ!

You two bored foetuses!

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 胚 (pēi) mean in Chinese?

胚 (pēi) primarily means "embryo." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2707 in character frequency.

How many strokes does 胚 have?

胚 is written with 11 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 胚?

The radical associated with 胚 is 肉 (meat). This radical appears in many characters related to meat.

What are the components of 胚?

胚 is composed of: ⺼ (semantic), 丕 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰⺼丕 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 胚?

Common words with 胚 include: 胚胎 (pēi tāi, "embryo"); 胚胎学 (pēi tāi xué, "embryology"); 囊胚 (náng pēi, "(zoology) blastula"); 胚芽 (pēi yá, "bud"); 美人胚子 (měi rén pēi zi, "(coll.) girl who shows signs of becoming a beauty"). There are over 22 compound words containing this character.

What characters sound the same as 胚 (pēi)?

Several characters share the pronunciation pēi: 陪 (to accompany), 培 (to cultivate, to train), 赔 (to compensate), 沛 (copious), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.

Is 胚 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

Yes, 胚 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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