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

HSK 3

她最近瘦了很多。

Tā zuìjìn shòu le hěnduō.

She's lost a lot of weight recently.

HSK 3

他很瘦，需要多吃点。

Tā hěn shòu, xūyào duō chī diǎn.

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

HSK 6

瘦肉比肥肉健康。

Shòuròu bǐ féiròu jiànkāng.

Lean meat is healthier than fatty meat.

HSK 7-9

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.

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.