胸

xiōng
noun HSK 6 #2,361

Meanings

  1. 1 chest; thorax
  2. 2 bosom; mind

Examples

HSK 2
Tā xiōngkǒu téng.
His chest hurts.
HSK 7-9
Tā xīnxiōng hěn kuānguǎng.
She is very broad-minded.

Tips

usage
胸口 (chest area), 心胸 (breadth of mind), 胸怀 (ambition/mind).

Components

radical
⺼ ròu
flesh; body (radical form)
Left-side 月 here is the 肉 (flesh) radical - body parts and bodily states. The chest is a body part, so the radical fits exactly. Same flesh-月 in 脸 (face), 肝 (liver), 胃 (stomach), 腰 (waist), 腿 (leg). Visually identical to moon-月 but distinct in origin.
phonetic
匈 xiōng
Hun; chest (here phonetic and original semantic)
Right component 匈 supplies an exact phonetic match. 匈 also originally meant 'chest' before being borrowed for the Xiongnu people; 胸 was created later by adding 月 to disambiguate. So 匈 carries the original meaning, with 月 marking it explicitly as bodily.

Stroke Order

胸 xiōng