Writing Balance Rule: The left side (flesh radical 月) is narrower and slightly taller, while the right side (市) is broader and anchors the character's structural weight on the right.
1. Meaning
lung
mind, heart, innermost thoughts (literary)
NounNeutral#anatomy#body parts#traditional chinese medicine
Sample Usage
吸烟对肺部有害。
xīyān duì fèibù yǒuhài.
Smoking is harmful to the lungs.
他气得肺都要炸了。
tā qì de fèi dōu yào zhà le.
He was so angry his lungs felt like they were going to burst.
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ay'.
Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.
Tone
T4 (51)
5 → 1 (51)
4th Tone (High-Falling)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and falls abruptly to the bottom, just like a sharp command like 'No!' or 'Stop!'.
👂
Listening trap: Confusing the initial 'f-' with 'h-' or 's-', or failing to drop the pitch sharply enough for Tone 4, making it sound like Tone 1 or 2.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: A quick, sharp chopping motion downward with your hand, mirroring the abrupt drop in pitch from high to low.
3. Writing
Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 8 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: The left side (flesh radical 月) is narrower and slightly taller, while the right side (市) is broader and anchors the character's structural weight on the right.
The flesh organ (月) paired with the market/city component (市) which provides the sound. Think of your lungs as a bustling marketplace where oxygen and carbon dioxide are traded constantly.
月 Flesh / body organ indicator on the left
市 Market / phonetic helper on the right
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
4· Phonetic Root: 巿 (fú)
5. History
Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)
Origin: Combined from the flesh/organ radical (月) and the phonetic component (市). Ancient physicians categorized internal organs using the flesh radical to denote anatomical structures.
Semantic Evolution: Originally referred specifically to the anatomical lung in traditional Chinese medicine and anatomy, and retains this primary physiological meaning today.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the lung (肺) is considered closely tied to respiration, grief, and the immune defense of the body.
6. Sinosphere
🇻🇳
Sino-Vietnamese
phế
Mandarin Tone 4 (falling) corresponds roughly to Vietnamese nặng or sắc depending on historical voicing, here matching phế.
🇯🇵
Kanji (Japanese)
On: ハイ (hai)
🇰🇷
Hanja (Korean)
폐
Sound Shift Bridge: The initial 'f-' in Mandarin often corresponds to 'h-' or 'p-' in neighbouring languages (e.g., Japanese 'hai', Sino-Vietnamese 'phế').
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story
Inside your body's flesh marketplace (月 + 市), your two **lungs** (肺) act like busy exchange booths trading fresh oxygen for waste air 24/7.
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
沸
fèito boilAdd water (氵) to the market (市) to get boiling water bubbling up.
鲱
fēiherringAdd fish (鱼) to the market (市) to get herring.
费
fèicost, expenseUses shell/money related components on top (贝) with market below.
Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)
沸(fèi)
沸 has the water radical (氵) because it refers to boiling water, whereas 肺 has the flesh radical (月) because it is a body organ.
费(fèi)
费 features shell/money elements (贝) at the top, representing cost or fees.
8. Mastery
Active Recall Challenge
抽烟对人的[___]健康有很大的危害。
Clue: fèi bù
Common Learner Pitfall
Confusing the flesh radical (月) on the left with the moon radical (though they share the exact same written form in modern Chinese, it originates from 'flesh' 肉 when placed on the left).
Memory Prompts
Recognition: When you see the character 肺 with a flesh radical and market phonetic, what organ does it represent?
Production: How do you write the Chinese word for 'lung' (fèi) using the flesh radical and the market component?
Real-World Video Context
Watch authentic native speakers pronounce and explain this word in real-world YouTube videos.
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肺fèilung
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