臟 (zàng) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

臟

zàng[zang4]Tone 4

viscera

HSK 2

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脏

Guru Deep Dive

English · viscera

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:19

Writing Balance Rule: Left side (月 meat radical) is narrower and compressed; right side (庄) is wider and must balance the heavy stroke count by keeping spacing even.

Simplification Logic: Traditional 臟 uses 𦈡 (zàng) on the right for sound. Simplified 脏 replaces the complex phonetic part with 庄 (zhuāng), simplifying stroke count while preserving phonetic similarity.

1. Meaning

internal organs / viscera

anatomytraditional Chinese medicine organ systems

NounNeutralBound morpheme#anatomy#biology#medicine

Sample Usage

五脏六腑
wǔ zàng liù fǔ
the five viscera and six bowels (all internal organs)
内脏
nèi zàng
internal organs / viscera

2. Sound

/[tsɑŋ˥˩]/Tone: 51

臟

zàngzang4

`(51)

=zàng

Initial Consonant

Type: Unaspirated Dental Sibilant

Sounds like: ts as in 'lets' without the s

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: No air puff (sounds like 'ds' in English 'cards'). Tissue still.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tip of the tongue touches the back of the upper teeth

Final Rhyme

ang

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -ang rhymes roughly with 'ong' or 'ung' with an a-vowel base

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ahng'.

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 drops sharply like a command or expression of annoyance ('No!').

👂

Listening trap: Confusing zang (fourth tone) with zāng (dirty, first tone) or zǎng (third tone).

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp downward chop with your hand, mirroring a sudden downward pitch from high to low.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 19 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: Left side (月 meat radical) is narrower and compressed; right side (庄) is wider and must balance the heavy stroke count by keeping spacing even.

4. Components

Radical 月 · Meat / Flesh Radical (when on the left, written as ⺼) (body parts, flesh, organs)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 月 (indicates flesh and body parts)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 庄 (original sound: zhuang/zang)

Flesh (⺼) combined with a village/estate structure (庄) representing the inner 'estate' or stronghold of the human body: the internal organs.

⺼ meat/body part
庄 phonetic clue for sound

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

2· Phonetic Root: 藏 (zàng)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally combined the flesh radical (月) to denote physical anatomy with a phonetic sound component to give its reading.

Semantic Evolution: Shifted from general fleshy parts to specifically internal organs, viscera, and anatomical systems.

Crucial term in traditional Chinese medicine for describing the vital organ systems.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ゾウ / Kun: はらわた

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

장

Sound Shift Bridge: Corresponds to Sino-Xenic readings preserving ancient z- initial structures for internal organs.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Inside your body's flesh estate (月), the vital internal organs (脏) work like a village administration keeping everything running.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

脏

zàngvisceraBase organ character

脏

zāngdirtySame character written identically in simplified Chinese for both 'internal organ' (fourth tone) and 'dirty' (first tone).

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

脏 (zāng)(zāng)

Identical character! Tone 4 means internal organs (脏), whereas Tone 1 means dirty (脏).

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

人體的五[___]六腑非常複雜。

Clue: zàng

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the fourth-tone reading for organs (zàng) with the first-tone reading for dirty (zāng), even though they share the exact same simplified written form.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see the character 脏 meaning 'viscera', what is its Pinyin and tone?

Production: How do you write the character for internal organs / viscera (zàng)?

臟zàngviscera

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