肩

jiān
noun #5,671

Meanings

  1. 1 shoulder
  2. 2 to shoulder (responsibilities)

Examples

HSK 6
Tā pāi le pāi wǒ de jiānbǎng.
He patted me on the shoulder.
HSK 7-9
Jiānshàng de dànzi hěn zhòng.
The burden on the shoulders is heavy.
HSK 7-9
Wǒmen bìngjiānzuòzhàn.
We fought side by side.

Tips

usage
肩 is often used in compounds: 肩膀 (jiānbǎng, shoulder), 并肩 (bìngjiān, side by side), 肩负 (jiānfù, to shoulder/bear a responsibility). The idiom 并肩作战 means 'to fight shoulder to shoulder.'

Components

radical
⺼ ròu
flesh; meat (body-form)
Bottom flesh radical, the body-part form of 肉 graphically identical to 月. It marks 肩 as a body part - the fleshy area connecting arm to torso. Combined with the door-shape above, the whole evokes the hinge of the body. The radical anchors a huge body-part family: 腿 (leg), 肝 (liver), 脸 (face), 肚 (belly), 胖 (plump).
semantic
户 hù
door; household
Top 户 is the door radical - a pictograph of a single-leaf door, half of the double-leaf 门. Here it functions ideographically: the angled, hinged shape mirrors the form of a shoulder joint, the body's own hinge between arm and torso. The whole character reads as a compound ideograph: a door-like joint covered with flesh.

Stroke Order

肩 jiān