瘦 (shòu): thin; slim; lean

Meanings

1 thin; slim; lean
2 to lose weight; to become thin
3 tight (of clothing)

Characters

瘦

shòu

thin; lean; skinny

Examples

她最近瘦了很多。

Tā zuìjìn shòu le hěnduō.

She's lost a lot of weight recently.

他很瘦，需要多吃点。

Tā hěn shòu, xūyào duō chī diǎn.

He's very thin, he needs to eat more.

这条裤子太瘦了，穿不下。

Zhè tiáo kùzi tài shòu le, chuān bùxià.

These pants are too tight, I can't fit into them.

瘦肉比肥肉健康。

Shòuròu bǐ féiròu jiànkāng.

Lean meat is healthier than fatty meat.

Tips

usage

瘦 as a verb means 'to lose weight' (她瘦了 = she got thinner). For clothing, 瘦 means 'tight/slim-fitting,' the opposite of 肥 (loose/baggy).

usage

Opposite: 胖 (pàng, fat) for people, 肥 (féi, fatty/loose) for meat or clothing. 苗条 (miáotiáo) is 'slender' as a compliment.

Components

radical

疒 nè

illness; sickness

Sickness radical (Kangxi #104) — pictures a person lying on a bed, originally turned vertically. Indexes 瘦 in the medical-condition family alongside 病 ill, 疼 ache, 痛 pain, 痒 itch, 疯 mad. The radical alone tells you a character names a state of the body, often pathological.

phonetic

叟 sǒu

old man (here phonetic)

Right side 叟 supplies the sound — sǒu → shòu, sibilant shift. 叟 depicts an old man holding a torch under a roof, the wizened elder. Semantic echo is faint but apt: old age and thinness pair in classical imagery — 'sickness + elder' suggests a wasted body. Same phonetic in 搜 sōu, 嫂 sǎo.