Chinese word

肺

Pronunciation

Pinyinfèi

Meaning

  • nounlung

Example

吸烟会伤害你的肺。xī yān huì shāng hài nǐ de fèi

Smoking can damage your lungs.

Illustration for 肺 (lung)

More examples

他被确诊为肺炎，正在住院治疗。tā bèi què zhěn wèi fèi yán zhèng zài zhù yuàn zhì liáo

He was diagnosed with pneumonia and is being treated in the hospital.

Core concept

A soft, branching organ in the chest that exchanges gases between the air and the blood.

Common phrases

  • 肺炎fèi yán

    pneumonia

  • 肺功能fèi gōng néng

    lung function

  • 肺活量fèi huó liàng

    lung capacity

Similar words

气管qì guǎn: The air passage that leads from the throat to the lungs.
支气管zhī qì guǎn: Narrow air passages that branch from the windpipe inside the lungs.
肺炎fèi yán: A lung disease in which the lung tissue becomes inflamed, often because of infection.
肺癌fèi ái: A malignant growth formed by abnormal cells in the lung.

Definition in Chinese

位于胸腔内的主要呼吸器官，由肺泡与毛细血管进行气体交换，从空气中吸入氧气并排出二氧化碳。wèi yú xiōng qiāng nèi de zhǔ yào hū xī qì guān yóu fèi pào yǔ máo xì xuè guǎn jìn xíng qì tǐ jiāo huàn cóng kōng qì zhōng xī rù yǎng qì bìng pái chū èr yǎng huà tàn

Word origin

肺 (fèi, "lung") is a phono-semantic character: 月 (yuè, "flesh radical") points to a bodily organ, while 巿 (fú, "phonetic component") contributes to its historical sound.

Usage tips

  • In everyday Chinese, this word often appears in health talk about smoking, coughing, and breathing problems, so it is useful beyond formal anatomy.

Related words

  • 肺炎fèi yánpneumonianoun
  • 肺癌fèi áilung cancernoun
  • 肺活量fèi huó liànglung capacitynoun

Word lists with this word