Posted by Grace Feng on November 5, 2012

I’ve been asked about why character 月 yuè (moon), while being used as a radical, should mainly correlate to “body parts”, instead of “moon”? It is referring to the post that I published in “Chinese Radical Show” series: “body” radical. This is one good question that I think it worth a whole post to answer.

As you might have known, Chinese characters have evolved from Oracle Bone Script since 5000 years ago. During the whole long evolution period, the shape of characters kept changing and changing.

If you look closely on how character “月 yuè” and “肉 ròu (meat)” have transformed over the long period of evolution (in the figure below), you’ll notice during a certain phase of the transformation, they looked almost the same. That was when Oracle script started to turn into abstract signs (real characters), which is called 篆文 zhuàn wén (the third column of the evolution table).

Charts are courtesy of vividict.com

The transformation of character 月 yuè from Oracle script:

The transformation of character 肉 ròu from Oracle script:

The individual character 肉 ròu there after turned into its own shape and that’s distinct from today’s “月 yuè”. However, a character with “meat radical” eventually turned into a character with “moon radical”. You can see an example of “肝 gān” (liver) in the following chart. Why this happened? I have no idea.

Now, the question is, how many “body part” characters have experienced this kind of transformation? The answer is almost all of them.

I listed all currently used “body part” characters and words that have radical 月 yuè in its left or bottom in the following table. See how many they are?

Simplified Chinese Traditional Chinese Mandarin Pinyin English Definition 脸 臉 lian3 face 肋骨 肋骨 lei4 gu3 rib 肌 肌 ji1 flesh; muscle; 肚 肚 du3 tripe; belly; 肛 肛 gang1 anus; 肝 肝 gan1 liver 肠 腸 chang2 intestines; 股 股 gu3 thigh 肥 肥 fei2 fat 腹 腹 fu4 abdomen; belly; 肩 肩 jian1 shoulder 脂肪 脂肪 zhi1 fang2 body fat 肺 肺 fei4 lung 肾 腎 shen4 kidney 肿胀 腫脹 zhong3 zhang4 swelling 脉 脈 mai4 arteries and veins 胳膊 胳膊 ge1 bo5 arm 胚胎 胚胎 pei1 tai1 embryo 胃 胃 wei4 stomach 胆 膽 dan3 the gall 脊背 脊背 ji3 bei4 back 脑 腦 nao3 brain 肚脐 肚臍 du4 qi2 navel; belly button 脓 膿 nong2 pus; 脏腑 臟腑 zang4 fu3 inner organs 胰 胰 yi2 pancreas; 膀胱 膀胱 pang2 guang1 bladder; 脖 脖 bo2 neck 脚 腳 jiao3 foot 腱 腱 jian4 tendon 腮 腮 sai1 cheek 腰 腰 yao1 waist 腺 腺 xian4 gland 腿 腿 tui3 leg 膜 膜 mo2 membrane

Then what about characters with 月 yuè radical that are actually related to “moon”? The following are all I can think of (some of them are not so obviously related to moon):

Simplified Chinese Traditional Chinese Mandarin Pinyin English Definition 明朗 明朗 ming2 lang3 clear; bright and cheerful; 期望 期望 qi1 wang4 expectation; hope; 朝 朝 zhao1 morning 朦胧 朦朧 meng2 long2 hazy;

That’s why in general Chinese don’t call radical 月 as “月字旁 yuè zì páng (moon radical)“. Instead, it is commonly called “月肉旁 yuè ròu páng (moon meat radical)“.

That’s why I used “body radical” to name this radical so you can relate the meaning of most characters with 月 radical to “body part”.

Feel free to contribute any currently used characters with 月 radical that is not on the list, thanks!

Update: Thanks for Dave and Ollie in providing the information on how the writing of radical 月, while being used as “meat” or “moon”, is taught to be different in traditional Chinese, such as in Taiwan. Honestly, this is my first time to know about it. I grew up in China mainland where only simplified Chinese was taught in its education systems. There is no difference implicated in either writing or font in simplified Chinese for this radical. That being said, the difference in traditional Chinese is definitely worth sharing here. Please look at the following picture (thanks Dave!) to see the subtle difference:

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Category: Chinese radicals

Tags: Chinese characters, Chinese radical, learn mandarin online, moon radical, 月 radical

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