肢 (zhī): limb (of the body)

Meanings

1 limb (of the body)
2 extremity

Characters

肢

zhī

limb / extremity

Examples

人体有四肢：两条胳膊和两条腿。

Réntǐ yǒu sìzhī: liǎng tiáo gēbo hé liǎng tiáo tuǐ.

The human body has four limbs: two arms and two legs.

他的上肢受伤了，无法抬起手臂。

Tā de shàngzhī shòushāng le, wúfǎ tái qǐshǒu bì.

His upper limb was injured and he couldn't lift his arm.

截肢手术在战争中很常见。

Jiézhī shǒushù zài zhànzhēng zhōng hěn chángjiàn.

Limb amputation surgery was common in wartime.

Tips

usage

肢 is a bound form — it rarely appears alone. Common compounds: 四肢 (four limbs), 上肢 (upper limbs / arms), 下肢 (lower limbs / legs), 肢体 (limbs and body), 截肢 (amputation).

Components

radical

⺼ ròu

meat; flesh (radical form)

Left meat-flesh radical (side-form of 肉, visually identical to 月 but a different semantic source) — the indexing radical. Marks 肢 as anatomical, putting it among 胸 chest, 肩 shoulder, 腰 waist, 腿 leg. The four 肢 are arms and legs — flesh extensions of the body.

phonetic

支 zhī

branch; to support (here phonetic + semantic)

Right 支 supplies the sound zhī (exact match) and the meaning — 支 means 'branch, to prop up,' and a limb is exactly a branch extending from the trunk of the body. The pairing reads as 'flesh-branch.' Same phonetic family: 枝 tree branch, 技 skill, 歧 fork in road.