肺 (fèi) is a Chinese character meaning “lung”. It is written from 月 (moon; month) and 巿 (fú — an old word for a ceremonial knee-cover; today seen almost only as a building block), side by side, and takes 8 strokes.
Build the character for “lung”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
月 + 巿
Left–right structure
- 月 moon; month · yuè meaning
- 巿 fú — an old word for a ceremonial knee-cover; today seen almost only as a building block · fú sound
Structure from: 现代字形拆分（IDS ⿰月巿，已对照 hanzi-writer-data 8 笔核验：月 4 笔 + 巿 4 笔）；声符身份依据《说文解字》「肺，从肉，巿聲」
Memory aid
月 on the left is the flesh radical — this is a body part. On the right is 巿 (fú), four strokes with one vertical driving straight down through the horizontal, like a windpipe dropping into the chest. Both parts are really in this character. 巿 is the sound part, but only the f- survived: 巿 fú → 肺 fèi.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
8 strokes
In real words
- 肺炎fèi yánpneumonia肺 = fèi
- 肺部fèi bùthe lungs; the pulmonary area肺 = fèi
Go deeper
All readings
lung
lung; the organ you breathe with
人和高等动物的呼吸器官。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 肺炎fèi yánpneumonia肺 = fèi
- 肺部fèi bùthe lungs; the pulmonary area肺 = fèi
Sound component
巿 family diverged
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 肺 mean?
肺 (fèi) means lung; the organ you breathe with.
How do you pronounce 肺?
It is pronounced fèi.
What parts is 肺 made of?
月 (moon; month) and 巿 (fú — an old word for a ceremonial knee-cover; today seen almost only as a building block), side by side. The recorded source is: 现代字形拆分（IDS ⿰月巿，已对照 hanzi-writer-data 8 笔核验：月 4 笔 + 巿 4 笔）；声符身份依据《说文解字》「肺，从肉，巿聲」. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 肺 have?
8. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 肺?
月. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 肺?
Common ones are 肺炎 and 肺部. The reading of 肺 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.