<blockquote>
<p><em>Is this one of the cases where two characters just remove ambiguity?</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yes, Since each Chinese character has its own meaning or meanings. A single character, usually cannot clearly express a specific meaning, therefore two characters would combine into a specific word, and two words may combine into one specific phase.(see my other post <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/21875/how-to-determine-if-character-can-be-used-separetely">How to determine if character can be used separetely?</a>)</p>
<p>In the case of 肥 and 胖. both can be an adjective for &quot;fat&quot;, however 肥 also has other meanings:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>肥 <a href="http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/188/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/188/</a></p>
<p>[1] [adj] fat; plump; chubby | [antonym] 瘦</p>
<p>[2] [adj] greasy; oily; fatty</p>
<p>[3] [adj] fertile; rich; luxuriant</p>
<p>[4] [n] fertilizer; manure</p>
<p>[5] [adj] profitable; lucrative; affluent</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Combine 肥 and 胖 into 肥胖 make it a specific term for &quot;fat /obese &quot;. Since it is a specific term, it is also more formal.</p>
<p>Beside being an adjective for &quot;fat&quot;,  肥胖 can also be a noun for &quot;obesity&quot;</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-12-01T14:39:57.947Z
As I understand, you focused on Cantonese. To what extent does it apply to Mandarin?
MrVocabulary
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-12-01T14:56:06.233Z
The Standard Written Chinese (SWC) that Hong Kong people use in writing, is not the same as the spoken Cantonese. Grammar of SWC is basically the same as Mandarin's, (more close to Taiwan Mandarin than Benji Mandarin in vocabulary) the most obvious difference between SWC and different regions' Mandarin, are the localized unique terms and slang.
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-12-01T15:35:18.150Z
Spoken Cantonese grammar is also analogous to SWC and Mandarin. The most obvious difference is-- Spoken Cantonese use many more word particles. For example: SWC "這行不行？" Transliterate to spoken Cantonese could become "噉得唔得？； 噉得唔得(架)？；噉得唔得(呢)？；噉得唔得(吖)？：噉得唔得(呀)? " And they are all subtlely different.
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-30T22:16:51.990Z
2016-12-01T04:19:40.930Z
2020-06-17T09:50:11.587Z
Tang Ho
<p>They have different "strength" and meaning:<code>肥胖</code>><code>肥</code>><code>胖</code>. Yes, they have similar meaning but cannot be used randomly. Mostly <code>肥胖</code> is kind of medical situation, which means a serious illness. <code>肥</code> is very humiliating. Although <code>胖</code> is less aggressive, it is a little rude anyway. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-30T21:12:04.980Z
2016-11-30T21:12:04.980Z
ZYX
<p>It's easy to distinguish them:
肥 is  more appropriate to describe animals like "好肥的羊/牛/猪"
胖 is  more appropriate to describe human like "你/他/她 好胖"<br>
Former two are adjective 
While 肥胖 it's a noun,it's a status, usually  be used alone like "肥胖的原因是…"/"…导致了肥胖"</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-12-06T10:20:15.980Z
2016-12-06T10:20:15.980Z
Leon Pu
<p>In addition to the very insightful answers so far, I would like to quote a fragment from <a href="http://keatschinese.com/en/knowledge/lesson-10-elementary-free-chinese-lessons-%E5%8F%91%E8%BE%BE" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Keat’s Chinese</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>In our daily life, we may sometimes want to describe somebody is fat.
  So when if you learn Chinese language in China, you should know the
  two different words expressing fat “胖” and “肥”, both are opposite to
  “thin”. The difference is that we use them to different objects. “胖”
  is often used to describe the person such as “身体发胖” and “长得胖”. On the
  contrary, “肥” is to applied to animals or the clothes or shoes. So we
  can say “肥肉” and “肥猪” as well as “裤子有点儿肥”. So it is very impolite if
  we say somebody is “肥”.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-12-04T10:17:34.873Z
2016-12-04T10:17:34.873Z
MrVocabulary
<p>Do all of these mean just "fat, obese"? Dictionaries seem to indicate that these characters mean that separately. Is there a reason to use them both? Is this one of the cases where two characters just remove ambiguity?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-30T20:34:33.630Z
Intuitively, I feel that 肥 is more negative and 胖 more neutral, even positive sometimes.  Babies who are 胖 have got a healthy bigness to them.
Brian Tung
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-30T23:57:42.433Z
If you meet some firend and he/she got more weight since last time you met, then you can say "你胖了" but you shouldn't say "你肥了".
Tim Yao
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-12-01T01:03:12.957Z
also note 胖子 often used as nickname (fatty, fatso)
user6065
<mandarin><vocabulary>
Vocab problem: 肥 vs 胖 vs 肥胖
# Vocab problem: 肥 vs 胖 vs 肥胖

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-11-30)

Do all of these mean just "fat, obese"? Dictionaries seem to indicate that these characters mean that separately. Is there a reason to use them both? Is this one of the cases where two characters just remove ambiguity?

**Tags:** mandarin, vocabulary

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Intuitively, I feel that 肥 is more negative and 胖 more neutral, even positive sometimes.  Babies who are 胖 have got a healthy bigness to them.  
> **username_2**: If you meet some firend and he/she got more weight since last time you met, then you can say "你胖了" but you shouldn't say "你肥了".  
> **username_3**: also note 胖子 often used as nickname (fatty, fatso)  

---

## 4 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2016-11-30. Score: 2

> *Is this one of the cases where two characters just remove ambiguity?*

Yes, Since each Chinese character has its own meaning or meanings. A single character, usually cannot clearly express a specific meaning, therefore two characters would combine into a specific word, and two words may combine into one specific phase.(see my other post [How to determine if character can be used separetely?](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/21875/how-to-determine-if-character-can-be-used-separetely))

In the case of 肥 and 胖. both can be an adjective for "fat", however 肥 also has other meanings:

> 肥 <http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/188/>
>
> [1] [adj] fat; plump; chubby | [antonym] 瘦
>
> [2] [adj] greasy; oily; fatty
>
> [3] [adj] fertile; rich; luxuriant
>
> [4] [n] fertilizer; manure
>
> [5] [adj] profitable; lucrative; affluent

Combine 肥 and 胖 into 肥胖 make it a specific term for "fat /obese ". Since it is a specific term, it is also more formal.

Beside being an adjective for "fat", 肥胖 can also be a noun for "obesity"

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: As I understand, you focused on Cantonese. To what extent does it apply to Mandarin?  
> **username_4**: The Standard Written Chinese (SWC) that Hong Kong people use in writing, is not the same as the spoken Cantonese. Grammar of SWC is basically the same as Mandarin's, (more close to Taiwan Mandarin than Benji Mandarin in vocabulary) the most obvious difference between SWC and different regions' Mandarin, are the localized unique terms and slang.  
> **username_4**: Spoken Cantonese grammar is also analogous to SWC and Mandarin. The most obvious difference is-- Spoken Cantonese use many more word particles. For example: SWC "這行不行？" Transliterate to spoken Cantonese could become "噉得唔得？； 噉得唔得(架)？；噉得唔得(呢)？；噉得唔得(吖)？：噉得唔得(呀)? " And they are all subtlely different.  

---

### Answer by username_5 on 2016-11-30. Score: 1

They have different "strength" and meaning:`肥胖`>`肥`>`胖`. Yes, they have similar meaning but cannot be used randomly. Mostly `肥胖` is kind of medical situation, which means a serious illness. `肥` is very humiliating. Although `胖` is less aggressive, it is a little rude anyway.


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### Answer by username_6 on 2016-12-06. Score: 1

It's easy to distinguish them:
肥 is more appropriate to describe animals like "好肥的羊/牛/猪"
胖 is more appropriate to describe human like "你/他/她 好胖"  
Former two are adjective
While 肥胖 it's a noun,it's a status, usually be used alone like "肥胖的原因是…"/"…导致了肥胖"


---

### Answer by username_0 on 2016-12-04. Score: 0

In addition to the very insightful answers so far, I would like to quote a fragment from [Keat’s Chinese](http://keatschinese.com/en/knowledge/lesson-10-elementary-free-chinese-lessons-%E5%8F%91%E8%BE%BE):

> In our daily life, we may sometimes want to describe somebody is fat.
> So when if you learn Chinese language in China, you should know the
> two different words expressing fat “胖” and “肥”, both are opposite to
> “thin”. The difference is that we use them to different objects. “胖”
> is often used to describe the person such as “身体发胖” and “长得胖”. On the
> contrary, “肥” is to applied to animals or the clothes or shoes. So we
> can say “肥肉” and “肥猪” as well as “裤子有点儿肥”. So it is very impolite if
> we say somebody is “肥”.


---

