肉
ròu · HSK 1
meat
🥩 Pictograph of a hunk of meat with marbling lines inside
The character 肉 began as a drawing of a slab of flesh with two curved lines marking the muscle fibers or fat marbling. It later became the radical ⺼ (meat radical) seen in body-part characters like 肝 (liver) and 腿 (leg).
肉 — pictograph of a slab of meat with ribs/striations
肉 is a pictograph originally depicting a piece of butchered meat, showing the outer cut and the striations of muscle or ribs inside. The character has meant 'flesh' or 'meat' since oracle bone times. As a radical it is usually written 月 on the left or bottom of characters relating to the body (e.g. 肝, 胃).
ròu · HSK 2
meat
🥩 肉 is a pictograph of a slab of meat with rib-like marks inside
The character started as a drawing of a cut of flesh showing striations of muscle or ribs. As a radical (written 月 on the left of many body-part characters like 肝, 肺, 腰), it signals 'flesh' rather than 'moon'.
肉 — pictograph of a slab of meat with ribs/striations
肉 is a pictograph originally depicting a piece of butchered meat, showing the outer cut and the striations of muscle or ribs inside. The character has meant 'flesh' or 'meat' since oracle bone times. As a radical it is usually written 月 on the left or bottom of characters relating to the body (e.g. 肝, 胃).