肥

Translingual

Han character

肥 (Kangxi radical 130, 肉+4, 8 strokes, cangjie input 月日山 (BAU), four-corner 7721₇, composition ⿰月巴(GJKV) or ⿰⺼巴(HT))

Derived characters

• 𭵀

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 974, character 23
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 29290
• Dae Jaweon: page 1426, character 13
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 2055, character 1
• Unihan data for U+80A5

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 肥
Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Transcribed ancient scripts

Shuowen Jiezi: Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 肉 (“meat”) + 卪 (“person kneeling”). Ji Xusheng (2004) posits that its actually a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *bɯl) : semantic 肉 + abbreviated phonetic 妃 (OC *pʰɯːls, *pʰɯl).

Etymology 1

STEDT provisionally assigns this to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *bu ~ bur.

Pronunciation

Definitions

肥

1. fat; plump; obese (adjective)

   農場裡的小豬長得肥肥的，好可愛。 [MSC, trad.]
   农场里的小猪长得肥肥的，好可爱。 [MSC, simp.]

   Nóngchǎng lǐ de xiǎozhū zhǎng de féiféi de, hǎo kě'ài.

   The pigs in the farm are quite plump, very cute.

   一時嫌人肥，一時嫌人瘦，都唔知點好。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   一时嫌人肥，一时嫌人瘦，都唔知点好。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   jat¹ si⁴ jim⁴ jan⁴ fei⁴, jat¹ si⁴ jim⁴ jan⁴ sau³, dou¹ m⁴ zi¹ dim² hou².

   Sometimes, I'm criticized for being fat, while other times, I'm criticized for being skinny. I don't know what to do.

2. fat; fatness (noun)

   減肥／减肥  ―  jiǎnféi  ―  to lose weight

3. fertile
4. fertiliser

   化肥  ―  huàféi  ―  chemical fertilizer

   氮肥  ―  dànféi  ―  nitrogenous fertilizer

   施肥  ―  shīféi  ―  to apply fertilizer

   • 只要土在肥就在 / 一袋能頂兩袋 [MSC, trad.]
     只要土在肥就在 / 一袋能顶两袋 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 2000s, 美国·圣地亚戈, an advertisement of the product 金氮丹

     zhǐyào tǔ zài féi jiù zài  /  yī dài néng dǐng liǎng dài

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

5. (usually derogatory) benefit; advantage; gain

Usage notes

• In northern varieties, including Standard Mandarin, 肥 (féi) is usually used for animals, and people are described as 胖 (pàng). This distinction is not seen in southern varieties, such as Cantonese, Hakka, and Min.

Synonyms

• (fat):

• (benefit):

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "fat"): 瘦 (shòu, “skinny”)

Compounds

Descendants

• → Proto-Tai: *bwiːᴬ (“fat”)
  • Thai: พี (pii)
  • Zhuang: biz
• → Thai: ปุ๋ย (bpǔi, “fertilizer”)

Etymology 2

Shortened from 肥佬 (fei4 lou2), from English fail.

Pronunciation

Definitions

肥

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to fail (a test)
2. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to fail (someone) in a test

References

• “肥”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 5 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. fat, plump
2. productive, fertile

Readings

• Go-on: び (bi)
• Kan-on: ひ (hi, Jōyō)
• Kun: こやし (koyashi, 肥やし, Jōyō); こえ (koe, 肥, Jōyō); こえる (koeru, 肥える, Jōyō); こやす (koyasu, 肥やす, Jōyō); ふとる (futoru, 肥る)

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

肥(こえ) • (koe) 

1. manure, fertilizer, dung

Compounds

• 肥(ひ)瘠(せき) (hiseki)
• 肥(ひ)大(だい) (hidai)
• 肥(ひ)満(まん) (himan)
• 肥(ひ)沃(よく) (hiyoku)
• 肥(ひ)料(りょう) (hiryō)
• 肥(こえ)溜(だ)め (koedame)
• 堆(たい)肥(ひ) (taihi)

Korean

Hanja

肥 • (bi) (hangeul 비)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Vietnamese

Han character

肥: Hán Nôm readings: phì, phè, phề

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Zhuang

Noun

肥

1. Sawndip form of feiz (“fire”)