肿 (zhǒng) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

肿

zhǒng[zhong3]Tone 3

swollen

HSK 6

View Traditional FormSwitch to Traditional

腫

Guru Deep Dive

English · swollen

Cached lesson

1 / 1

Topology:Left-right

Strokes:9

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the flesh radical (月) on the left narrow and compact, leaving ample horizontal space for the right-side phonetic component (中).

Simplification Logic: Traditional 腫 uses ⿁ (guǐ) on the right, which was simplified to 中 (zhōng) in the modern simplified character 肿.

1. Meaning

to swell, swelling, swollen

tumor, lump (medical context)

Verb / AdjectiveNeutral#medicine#body#health

Sample Usage

我的脚肿了。
wǒ de jiǎo zhǒng le.
My foot is swollen.
眼睛哭肿了。
yǎnjīng kū zhǒng le.
Eyes swollen from crying.

2. Sound

/[ʈʂʊŋ²¹⁴]/Tone: 214

肿

zhǒngzhong3

ˇ(214)

=zhǒng

Initial Consonant

Type: Unaspirated Retroflex

Sounds like: j/dr retroflex sound

UnaspiratedRetroflex

Airflow Tactile Test: No burst of air. Tongue curled up. Tissue stays still.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip curled back near hard palate

Final Rhyme

ong

Vowel Group: -o vowel group

Sounds like: -ong rhymes with rung

Mouth Shape Guide: Combine initial 'h-' (h) with final '-ong' (oong).

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T3 (214)

2 → 1 → 4 (214)

3rd Tone (Low-Dipping)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 3 dips low in pitch before rising, similar to the incredulous English interjection 'Really?'

Sandhi: When followed by another 3rd tone syllable, zhǒng changes to a 2nd tone (35) natively, though tone sandhi rules apply standardly across word boundaries.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the retroflex initial 'zh-' with the alveolar-palatal 'j-' or retroflex aspirated 'ch-'.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Trace a checkmark in the air: start medium-high, dip down low to your chest, and rise back up slightly.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 9 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the flesh radical (月) on the left narrow and compact, leaving ample horizontal space for the right-side phonetic component (中).

Simplification Logic: Traditional 腫 uses ⿁ (guǐ) on the right, which was simplified to 中 (zhōng) in the modern simplified character 肿.

4. Components

Radical 月 · flesh radical (meat radical variant) (body part, flesh, organ)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 月 (indicates body tissue, flesh, or medical condition)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 中 (original sound: zhong)

The flesh radical (月) on the left combines with the sound-giving component 'middle' (中) on the right to represent flesh that balloons out right in the middle.

月 Flesh / body part
中 Phonetic clue providing the 'zhǒng' sound

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

11· Phonetic Root: 中 (zhòng)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Formed as a phono-semantic compound where 月 (flesh) points to physical swellings on the body, and 中 provides the phonetic pronunciation.

Semantic Evolution: Originally referred specifically to flesh swelling or boils, expanding over time to general swelling of any body part and related medical terms like tumors (肿瘤).

The traditional form used ⿁ (ghost/demon) to signify a diseased, monstrous swelling.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: シュウ (shū) / Kun: はれ (hare)

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

종

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Your flesh (月) right in the middle (中) of your leg ballooned up into a giant, painful swelling.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

仲

zhòngmiddle, intermediaryUses human radical (亻) instead of flesh (月).

种

zhǒngseed, kind, typeUses grain radical (禾) instead of flesh (月).

冲

chōngto rush, to rinseUses water radical (氵) instead of flesh (月).

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

种(zhǒng)

种 uses the grain radical (禾) for seeds, whereas 肿 uses the flesh radical (月) for body swellings.

仲(zhòng)

仲 uses the person radical (亻) for human relationships, whereas 肿 uses flesh (月).

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

我的脚扭伤了，现在肿得很高。[___]

Clue: zhǒng

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the left radical 月 (flesh) with 月 (moon), or mixing up the character with 种 (zhǒng - seed) due to the identical right-hand side.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 肿, what body part context and sound do you recall?

Production: How do you write the character for 'swollen' using the flesh radical and the phonetic component 'middle'?

肿zhǒngswollen

Speed:

Searching YouTube for native pronunciation videos...

0 / 0