胸 (xiōng): chest, bosom, heart, mind, thorax

胸 (xiōng) is a Chinese character meaning “chest.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of ⺼ (structural) and 匈 (structural). It ranks #1348 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 胸 a heart ⺼ in the chest 匈; 匈 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. chest
  2. bosom
  3. heart
  4. mind
  5. thorax

Etymology & Origin

胸

ideographicA heart ⺼ in the chest 匈; 匈 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰⺼匈 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
胸部nounxiōng bùchest
胸口nounxiōng kǒuchest
胸罩nounxiōng zhàobrassiere (underwear)
胸腔nounxiōng qiāngthoracic cavity
胸前xiōng qián(on the) chest
胸膛nounxiōng tángchest
心胸nounxīn xiōngheart
胸脯nounxiōng púchest
胸骨nounxiōng gǔsternum
鸡胸nounjī xiōngchicken breast
胸肌nounxiōng jīpectoral muscles
胸有成竹xiōng yǒu chéng zhú(idiom) to have a well-thought-out plan in mind
胸怀nounxiōng huáione's bosom (the seat of emotions)
胸中nounxiōng zhōngone's mind
胸围nounxiōng wéichest measurement
100
Total compounds
44
As first character
20
As last character
36
As middle character

胸 appears in 100 compound words: 44 as the first character, 20 as the last, and 36 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 胸 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

翠cuì
0.63415 co-occurrences
罩zhào
0.5752,428 co-occurrences
腔qiāng
0.5642,210 co-occurrences
膛táng
0.549974 co-occurrences
腹fù
0.5312,420 co-occurrences
腺xiàn
0.493898 co-occurrences
捶chuí
0.479110 co-occurrences
裸luǒ
0.478764 co-occurrences
晒shài
0.47115 co-occurrences
闷mēn
0.457128 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (11)

昂首挺胸áng shǒu tǐng xiōngHSK 6+

head high, chest out (idiom); to keep up one's spirits; in fine mettle (of animal)

phrase
成竹在胸chéngzhúzàixiōngHSK 6+

alternative form of 胸有成竹 (xiōngyǒuchéngzhú)

phrase
捶胸顿足chuíxiōngdùnzúHSK 7+

to beat one's breast; to display intense sorrow or regret

phrase
跌脚捶胸diē jiǎo chuí xiōngHSK 7+

lit. stamping and beating the chest (idiom); fig. angry or stressed about sth

phrase
心胸狭窄xīnxiōngxiázhǎiHSK 7+

small-minded; intolerant; selfish; petty

phrase
胸无城府xiōngwúchéngfǔHSK 6+

to be frank and sincere and not scheming

phrase
胸无大志xiōngwúdàzhìHSK 6+

to have no great ambitions or aspirations

phrase
胸无宿物xiōng wú sù wùHSK 6+

open and candid (idiom); not hiding anything; ingenuous

phrase
胸有成竹xiōng yǒu chéng zhúHSK 6+

(idiom) to have a well-thought-out plan in mind

phrase
义愤填胸yì fèn tián xiōngHSK 6+

righteous indignation fills one's breast (idiom); to feel indignant at injustice

phrase
胸有丘壑xiōng yǒu qiū hèHSK 7+

far-sighted; astute

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

他挺胸抬头,自信地走上了舞台。

Tā tǐng xiōng táitóu, zìxìn de zǒu shàng le wǔtái.

He held his head high and walked onto the stage confidently.

三立新聞網Feb 2026

65岁林瑞阳惊传胸腔动刀!张庭回应了

6 5 suì lín ruì yáng jīng chuán xiōng qiāng dòng dāo ! zhāng tíng huí yīng le

65-year-old Lin Ruiyang was shocked to hear that he had a chest knife! Zhang Ting responded

Am730Feb 2026

夜王|郑秀文被要求胸部垫Pad演V姐 Sammi..每边do...

yè wáng zhèng xiù wén bèi yāo qiú xiōng bù diàn P a d yǎn V jiě S a m m i . . měi biān d o . . .

Night King|Sammi Cheng was asked to play Sister V with a pad on her chest. Every side do...

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"

Hk01.comFeb 2026

蔡瑞雪清纯校花形象大崩坏?橙发低胸辣照疯传 网:差点认不出来

蔡 ruì xuě qīng chún jiào huā xíng xiàng dà bēng huài ? chéng fā dī xiōng là zhào fēng chuán wǎng : chā diǎn rèn bù chū lái

Cai Ruixue's image of a pure school flower collapsed? Orange-haired low-cut spicy photos went viral on the Internet: I almost couldn't recognize it

百度新闻Feb 2026

...半年卖出800多只点翠大蟑螂,还推出苍蝇胸针、..

. . . bàn nián mài chū duō zhī diǎn cuì dà 蟑 螂 , hái tuī chū cāng yíng xiōng zhēn . .

... Sold more than 800 large cockroaches in half a year, also introduced fly brooches,...

Tatoeba

宝石师傅在胸针上镶了一枚大珍珠。

Bǎoshí shīfu zài xiōngzhēn shàng xiāng le yī méi dà zhēnzhū.

The jeweler mounted a big pearl in the brooch.

Tatoeba

他的胸中还有足够的斗志。

Tā de xiōngzhōng háiyǒu zúgòu de dòuzhì.

He had plenty of fight left in him.

Tatoeba

玛丽把钱藏在了文胸里。

Mǎlì bǎ qián cáng zài le wénxiōng lǐ.

Mary hid the money in her bra.

Tatoeba

她买了一件新抹胸。

Tā mǎi le yī jiàn xīn mòxiōng.

She bought a new "moxiong".

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced xiōng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 胸 (xiōng) mean in Chinese?
胸 (xiōng) primarily means "chest." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1348 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 胸 have?
胸 is written with 10 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 胸?
The radical associated with 胸 is 肉 (meat). This radical appears in many characters related to meat.
What are the components of 胸?
胸 is composed of: ⺼ (structural), 匈 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰⺼匈 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 胸?
Common words with 胸 include: 胸部 (xiōng bù, "chest"); 胸口 (xiōng kǒu, "chest"); 胸罩 (xiōng zhào, "brassiere (underwear)"); 胸腔 (xiōng qiāng, "thoracic cavity"); 胸前 (xiōng qián, "(on the) chest"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 胸 (xiōng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation xiōng: 兄 (elder brother), 雄 (male), 凶 (terrible), 熊 (bear), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 胸 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 胸 and the traditional form is 胷.

Practice writing 胸 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.