fèi
noun HSK 6 #3,702

Meanings

  1. 1 lung; lungs

Characters

Examples

HSK 3
Yīshēng jiǎnchá le tā de fèibù.
The doctor examined his lungs.
HSK 4
Xīyān duì fèi yǒu hěn dà de shānghài.
Smoking causes great harm to the lungs.
HSK 7-9
Tā déle fèiyán.
He got pneumonia.

Tips

usage
Medical compounds: 肺炎 (pneumonia), 肺癌 (lung cancer), 肺部 (lung area/region), 肺活量 (lung capacity). The idiom 肺腑之言 means 'words from the bottom of one's heart.'

Components

radical
ròu
flesh; body-tissue (radical form)
Flesh radical on the left - the side-form of (meat), visually identical to (moon) in modern type. Marks as a body-organ noun: same radical anchors (liver), (kidney), (stomach), (brain), (organ). Whenever you see this -shape on the LEFT of a body part, read it as flesh, not moon.
phonetic
巿
knee-cover; ceremonial apron
Right side 巿 (4 strokes - note this is NOT 'market' which has 5 strokes) supplies the sound: fú → fèi with vowel and tone drift. The phonetic is rare today, surviving mainly in and . 巿 originally pictured a hanging knee-cloth worn at court; the meaning is incidental, role is purely phonetic.

Stroke Order

fèi