(ròu): meat, flesh, pulp (of a fruit)

(ròu) is a Chinese character meaning “meat.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #1008 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically pictographic, meat on the ribs of an animal. Its radical form (meat) appears in many related characters such as (néng, can), (bèi, the back of a body or object), (shèng, victory).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. meat
  2. flesh
  3. pulp (of a fruit)

Etymology & Origin

pictographicMeat on the ribs of an animal

Decomposition: ⿻冂仌 (layout: overlay)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounjī ròumuscle5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
niú ròubeef
jī ròuchicken meat
ròu tǐphysical body
kǎo ròuto barbecue meat
zhū ròupork
xūn ròubacon
xuè ròuflesh
ròu wánmeatball
ròu bǐngmeat patty
ròu guìChinese cinnamon (Cinnamomum cassia)
féi ròufat (e.g. pork fat)
yáng ròumutton
ròu jiàngminced meat sauce
ròu zhīmeat stock
gǔ ròublood relation
100
Total compounds
49
As first character
51
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 49 as the first character, 51 as the last, and 0 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

0.74856,884 co-occurrences
kǎo
0.5899,376 co-occurrences
shí
0.56861,644 co-occurrences
niú
0.56732,436 co-occurrences
chuàn
0.54710 co-occurrences
zòng
0.5401,620 co-occurrences
0.5394,608 co-occurrences
zhū
0.5368,365 co-occurrences
0.5308,592 co-occurrences
shòu
0.5213,804 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (15)

gǔ ròu xiāng cánHSK 6+

close kindred slaughter one another (idiom); internecine strife

phrase
jīròu zhùshèHSK 6+

intramuscular injection

noun
jiǔchíròulínHSK 5+

debauched activities; excessive extravagance

phrase
jiǔròu péngyouHSK 2+

fair-weather friend (one who is friendly only to his own advantage)

noun
lángduōròushǎoHSK 6+

a situation where many individuals fight over scarce resources

phrase
píkāiròuzhànHSK 7+

to have one's skin torn and cracked as a result of being badly beaten

phrase
qíng yú gǔ ròuHSK 7+

feelings deeper than for one's own flesh and blood (idiom); deep friendship

phrase
ròudúgǎnjūnHSK 7+

Clostridium botulinum

noun
ròu yǎn fán tāiHSK 7+

ignoramus (idiom)

phrase
ruòròuqiángshíHSK 5+

survival of the fittest; law of the jungle

proverb
xīnjīngròutiàoHSK 4+

to palpitate with anxiety and fear; to be filled with apprehension

phrase
xíngshīzǒuròuHSK 7+

walking corpse; walking dead; zombie; layabout; idler; person who lives only on the material level

phrase

Showing 12 of 15 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

我在字典里查到了字的详细解释。

wǒ zài zì diǎn lǐ chá dào le ròu zì de xiáng xì xiè shì .

I looked up the detailed explanation of the character "肉" in the dictionary.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

苗栗头份圆光便当“卖一甲子” 独门保温法排传香半世纪

miáo 栗 tóu fèn yuán guāng biàn dāng mài yī jiǎ zǐ dú mén bǎo wēn fǎ ròu pái chuán xiāng bàn shì jì

Miaoli Toufen Yuanguang Bento "sells for a sixty-year-old" unique insulation method meat steak has been fragrant for half a century

東森新聞Feb 2026

她退货国家地理杂志服饰“控被搜IG” 业者回应了

tā tuì huò guó jiā dì lǐ zá zhì fú shì kòng bèi ròu sōu I G yè zhě huí yīng le

She returned National Geographic magazine clothing "accused of being searched by meat IG" The industry responded

透视俄罗斯 | 俄罗斯新闻Feb 2026

...5万人参加:恶劣天气难挡布拉戈维申斯克谢节庆典

. . . 5 wàn rén cān jiā : è liè tiān qì nán dǎng bù lā gē wéi shēn sī kè xiè ròu jié qìng diǎn

... 50,000 people participated: bad weather could not stop the Blagoveshchensk Thanksgiving Meat Day celebration

東森新聞Feb 2026

台南“林家燥饭”宣布复活回归!网:请继续发光发热

tái nán lín jiā ròu zào fàn xuān bù fù huó huí guī ! wǎng : qǐng jì xù fā guāng fā rè

Tainan's "Lin's Pork Rice" announced its resurrection and return! Net: Please continue to shine

百度新闻Feb 2026

倒酱油、拌馅,看春晚机器人化身“新春大厨”

dǎo jiàng yóu , bàn ròu xiàn , kàn chūn wǎn jī qì rén huà shēn xīn chūn dà chú

Pour soy sauce, mix meat filling, and watch the Spring Festival Gala robot transform into a "New Year chef"

Tatoeba

叫个清蒸鲈鱼好呢,还是蚝油牛好?

Jiào gè qīngzhēng lúyú hǎo ne, háishi háoyóu niúròu hǎo?

Should we order the steamed perch or the beef with oyster sauce?

Tatoeba

你想再来些牛吗?

Nǐ xiǎng zài lái xiē niúròu ma?

Would you like some more beef?

Tatoeba

人没了猪怎么活啊?

Rén méile zhūròu zěnme huó ā?

How can one live without pork?

Tatoeba

您上次吃鹿是什么时候?

Nín shàngcì chī lùròu shì shénmeshíhou?

When was the last time you ate venison?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced ròu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 肉 (ròu) mean in Chinese?
肉 (ròu) primarily means "meat." It is classified as HSK Level 2, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #1008 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 肉 have?
肉 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 肉?
The radical associated with 肉 is 肉 (meat). This radical appears in many characters related to meat.
What are the components of 肉?
肉 is composed of: 冂 (structural), 仌 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿻冂仌 with a overlay layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 肉?
Common words with 肉 include: 肌肉 (jī ròu, "muscle"); 牛肉 (niú ròu, "beef"); 鸡肉 (jī ròu, "chicken meat"); 肉体 (ròu tǐ, "physical body"); 烤肉 (kǎo ròu, "to barbecue meat"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 肉 (ròu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation ròu: 柔 (soft), 揉 (to knead). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 肉 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 肉 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.