<p>Similar questions have been asked in both <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/7236/why-is-%E6%9C%88-used-when-speaking-about-anatomy/7237#7237">Chinese</a> and <a href="https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/44763/is-there-any-reason-a-lot-of-body-parts-use-the-month-moon-radical/44766#44766">Japanese</a> StackExchange before. In summary, what appears as <strong>月</strong> in <em>printed</em> text is actually the graphical merger between <strong><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%82%89#Translingual" rel="nofollow noreferrer">⺼</a></strong> (simplified form of <strong>肉</strong> (meat; flesh)) and 月 (moon). Traditionally, you wouldn't handwrite characters with the ⺼ radical with two horizontal lines as the inner two strokes; they would be diagonal.</p>

<p>The similarity in appearance is normally not a source of confusion, as the vast majority of characters which contain a ⺼ component does not have ⺼ appearing on the right, and the vast majority of characters which have a proper 月 component appears on the right, with some rare exceptions (see <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/27503/whats-the-differece-between-%E6%9C%98-u6718-and-%E8%84%A7-u8127/27551#27551">this</a>).</p>

<p>As a final note, if you wish to understand why characters are written a certain way, looking at the Simplified Chinese form is generally not helpful. <strong>头</strong> has undergone a very contrived simplification from the traditional <strong>頭</strong> (see <a href="https://www.zhihu.com/question/24660661" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a> excellent answer on Zhihu), and like 頭, characters to do with 'head' may be written with the <strong>頁</strong> component instead of ⺼ (e.g. <strong>頸</strong>, <em>neck</em>).</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-18T21:58:25.760Z
What is the significance of the moon? Moon and meat are somehow related??
Pedroski
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-19T03:45:09.610Z
No, they're not related; they looked similar and were eventually merged into one form in print. Some typefaces make an effort to distinguish the two (specifically, those typefaces following the Taiwan Ministry of Education rules).
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-18T12:32:38.000Z
2017-11-18T15:57:23.760Z
2017-11-18T15:57:23.760Z
dROOOze
<p>It's possible I'm reading too much into this, but there seems to be a lot of body parts which contain the 月 radical:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%85%BF" rel="nofollow noreferrer">腿</a> (tuǐ) = leg<br>
  <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%84%9A" rel="nofollow noreferrer">脚</a> (jiǎo) = foot<br>
  <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%85%B0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">腰</a> (yāo) = waist (also <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%85%B0%E9%83%A8" rel="nofollow noreferrer">腰部</a> (yāobù))<br>
  <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%84%B8" rel="nofollow noreferrer">脸</a> (liǎn) = face<br>
  <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%83%B8" rel="nofollow noreferrer">胸</a> (xiōng) = chest<br>
  <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%82%A1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">股</a> (gǔ) = thigh (also <a href="http://dict.cn/%E5%A4%A7%E8%85%BF" rel="nofollow noreferrer">大腿</a> (dàtuǐ))<br>
  <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%83%B3%E8%86%8A" rel="nofollow noreferrer">胳膊</a> (gēbó) = arm<br>
  <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%84%82%E8%82%AA" rel="nofollow noreferrer">脂肪</a> (zhīfáng) = body fat<br>
  <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%82%9D%E8%84%8F" rel="nofollow noreferrer">肝脏</a> (gānzàng) = liver<br>
  <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%86%80%E8%83%B1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">膀胱</a> (pángguāng) = bladder<br>
  <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%84%96%E5%AD%90" rel="nofollow noreferrer">脖子</a> (bózi) = neck<br>
  <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%82%9A%E5%AD%90" rel="nofollow noreferrer">肚子</a> (dùzi) = abdomen<br>
  <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%84%91%E5%AD%90" rel="nofollow noreferrer">脑子</a> (nǎozi) = brain<br>
  <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%85%8B%E4%B8%8B" rel="nofollow noreferrer">腋下</a> (yèxià) = armpit<br>
  <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%86%9D%E7%9B%96" rel="nofollow noreferrer">膝盖</a> (xīgài) = knee<br>
  <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%82%8C%E8%82%89" rel="nofollow noreferrer">肌肉</a> (jīròu) = muscle<br>
  <a href="http://dict.cn/%E6%89%8B%E8%85%95" rel="nofollow noreferrer">手腕</a> (shǒuwàn) = wrist<br>
  <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%82%A9%E8%86%80" rel="nofollow noreferrer">肩膀</a> (jiānbǎng) = shoulder<br>
  <a href="http://dict.cn/%E5%B1%81%E8%82%A1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">屁股</a> (pìgu) = bottom<br>
  <a href="http://dict.cn/%E7%9A%AE%E8%82%A4" rel="nofollow noreferrer">皮肤</a> (pífū) = skin<br>
  <a href="http://dict.cn/%E6%89%8B%E8%82%98" rel="nofollow noreferrer">手肘</a> (shǒuzhǒu) = elbow</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Also: <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%84%89" rel="nofollow noreferrer">脉</a>, <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%83%86" rel="nofollow noreferrer">胆</a>, <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%82%A0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">肠</a>, <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%85%91" rel="nofollow noreferrer">腑</a>, <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%84%AC" rel="nofollow noreferrer">脬</a>, <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%85%B1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">腱</a>.  You get the idea; there's lots.</p>

<p><strong>Question</strong>: Is there a reason the 月 radical occurs many times in body part names?</p>

<p>There's others that don't have it, e.g., <a href="http://dict.cn/%E5%A4%B4" rel="nofollow noreferrer">头</a> (tóu) = head, <a href="http://dict.cn/%E7%9C%BC%E7%9D%9B" rel="nofollow noreferrer">眼睛</a> (yǎnjing) = eyes, <a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%80%B3%E6%9C%B5" rel="nofollow noreferrer">耳朵</a> (ěrduo) = ear.  Nevertheless, 月 does seem surprisingly common among body parts.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-18T15:34:08.603Z
See https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/7237/4136
Mou某
<radicals>
Is there a reason the 月 radical occurs many times in body part names?
# Is there a reason the 月 radical occurs many times in body part names?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-11-18)

It's possible I'm reading too much into this, but there seems to be a lot of body parts which contain the 月 radical:

> [腿](http://dict.cn/%E8%85%BF) (tuǐ) = leg  
> [脚](http://dict.cn/%E8%84%9A) (jiǎo) = foot  
> [腰](http://dict.cn/%E8%85%B0) (yāo) = waist (also [腰部](http://dict.cn/%E8%85%B0%E9%83%A8) (yāobù))  
> [脸](http://dict.cn/%E8%84%B8) (liǎn) = face  
> [胸](http://dict.cn/%E8%83%B8) (xiōng) = chest  
> [股](http://dict.cn/%E8%82%A1) (gǔ) = thigh (also [大腿](http://dict.cn/%E5%A4%A7%E8%85%BF) (dàtuǐ))  
> [胳膊](http://dict.cn/%E8%83%B3%E8%86%8A) (gēbó) = arm  
> [脂肪](http://dict.cn/%E8%84%82%E8%82%AA) (zhīfáng) = body fat  
> [肝脏](http://dict.cn/%E8%82%9D%E8%84%8F) (gānzàng) = liver  
> [膀胱](http://dict.cn/%E8%86%80%E8%83%B1) (pángguāng) = bladder  
> [脖子](http://dict.cn/%E8%84%96%E5%AD%90) (bózi) = neck  
> [肚子](http://dict.cn/%E8%82%9A%E5%AD%90) (dùzi) = abdomen  
> [脑子](http://dict.cn/%E8%84%91%E5%AD%90) (nǎozi) = brain  
> [腋下](http://dict.cn/%E8%85%8B%E4%B8%8B) (yèxià) = armpit  
> [膝盖](http://dict.cn/%E8%86%9D%E7%9B%96) (xīgài) = knee  
> [肌肉](http://dict.cn/%E8%82%8C%E8%82%89) (jīròu) = muscle  
> [手腕](http://dict.cn/%E6%89%8B%E8%85%95) (shǒuwàn) = wrist  
> [肩膀](http://dict.cn/%E8%82%A9%E8%86%80) (jiānbǎng) = shoulder  
> [屁股](http://dict.cn/%E5%B1%81%E8%82%A1) (pìgu) = bottom  
> [皮肤](http://dict.cn/%E7%9A%AE%E8%82%A4) (pífū) = skin  
> [手肘](http://dict.cn/%E6%89%8B%E8%82%98) (shǒuzhǒu) = elbow

Also: [脉](http://dict.cn/%E8%84%89), [胆](http://dict.cn/%E8%83%86), [肠](http://dict.cn/%E8%82%A0), [腑](http://dict.cn/%E8%85%91), [脬](http://dict.cn/%E8%84%AC), [腱](http://dict.cn/%E8%85%B1). You get the idea; there's lots.

**Question**: Is there a reason the 月 radical occurs many times in body part names?

There's others that don't have it, e.g., [头](http://dict.cn/%E5%A4%B4) (tóu) = head, [眼睛](http://dict.cn/%E7%9C%BC%E7%9D%9B) (yǎnjing) = eyes, [耳朵](http://dict.cn/%E8%80%B3%E6%9C%B5) (ěrduo) = ear. Nevertheless, 月 does seem surprisingly common among body parts.

**Tags:** radicals

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: See https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/7237/4136  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2017-11-18. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

Similar questions have been asked in both [Chinese](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/7236/why-is-%E6%9C%88-used-when-speaking-about-anatomy/7237#7237) and [Japanese](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/44763/is-there-any-reason-a-lot-of-body-parts-use-the-month-moon-radical/44766#44766) StackExchange before. In summary, what appears as **月** in *printed* text is actually the graphical merger between **[⺼](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%82%89#Translingual)** (simplified form of **肉** (meat; flesh)) and 月 (moon). Traditionally, you wouldn't handwrite characters with the ⺼ radical with two horizontal lines as the inner two strokes; they would be diagonal.

The similarity in appearance is normally not a source of confusion, as the vast majority of characters which contain a ⺼ component does not have ⺼ appearing on the right, and the vast majority of characters which have a proper 月 component appears on the right, with some rare exceptions (see [this](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/27503/whats-the-differece-between-%E6%9C%98-u6718-and-%E8%84%A7-u8127/27551#27551)).

As a final note, if you wish to understand why characters are written a certain way, looking at the Simplified Chinese form is generally not helpful. **头** has undergone a very contrived simplification from the traditional **頭** (see [this](https://www.zhihu.com/question/24660661) excellent answer on Zhihu), and like 頭, characters to do with 'head' may be written with the **頁** component instead of ⺼ (e.g. **頸**, *neck*).

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: What is the significance of the moon? Moon and meat are somehow related??  
> **username_2**: No, they're not related; they looked similar and were eventually merged into one form in print. Some typefaces make an effort to distinguish the two (specifically, those typefaces following the Taiwan Ministry of Education rules).  

---

