胃 (wèi) · stomach

Meanings

1 stomach

Characters

胃

wèi

stomach

Examples

HSK 1

他有胃病。

Tā yǒu wèibìng.

He has a stomach illness.

HSK 2

我的胃不太舒服。

Wǒ de wèi bútài shūfu.

My stomach doesn't feel well.

HSK 4

吃太多辣的对胃不好。

Chī tài duō là de duì wèi bùhǎo.

Eating too much spicy food is bad for the stomach.

Tips

usage

胃 appears in 胃口 (wèikǒu, appetite), 胃病 (wèibìng, stomach illness), 肠胃 (chángwèi, gastrointestinal). The expression 没胃口 (méi wèikǒu) means 'no appetite.'

culture

In Chinese medicine, the 胃 (stomach) and 脾 (spleen) are considered a pair. 'Nurturing the spleen and stomach' (养脾胃) is a central concept in traditional health practices.

Components

radical

⺼ ròu

flesh; meat (radical form)

Bottom flesh radical (⺼ = compressed 肉, Kangxi #130) - the indexing radical (note: visually identical to 月 'moon' but semantically 'flesh'). Anchors 胃 in the body-organ family: 肝 (liver), 肺 (lung), 肠 (intestine), 肾 (kidney), 脑 (brain). The stomach (the food pouch) sits on top of the flesh radical, picturing the organ in the body.

semantic

田 tián

field (here: stomach contents)

Top 田 (field) - graphically a field with crossed paths, but in 胃 it represents the stomach pouch with food inside (the cross-shape suggesting the contents being broken up). A pictograph repurposed: not a literal field here, but the rounded sac of the stomach with grain inside. The compound is a semantic pairing, not phono-semantic.