Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

肥: fertilizer, get fat

Also: fertile, manure, pamper

JLPT N18 strokesGrade 5Your ink: 白 Not met

月 carries the meaning · 巴 gives the sound

8 strokes

Five readings, and the words that use each

ヒhi · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 肥満ひまんcorpulence, obesity
  • 肥料ひりょうmanure, fertilizer
  • 堆肥たいひcompost
  • 肥大するひだいするswell, grow fat

こえるkoeru · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 肥えるこえるgrow fat, grow fertile [v.i.]

こえkoe · kun'yomi

  • 肥こえmanure, dung, fertilizer

こやすkoyasu · kun'yomi

  • 肥やすこやすfertilize, fatten [v.t.]

こやしkoyashi · kun'yomi

  • 肥やしこやしmanure, dung, fertilizer

Also read ふとる, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

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成り立ち

Where it comes from

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“It looks like the moon, but it's actually muscle! When you see this "moon" on the left side of a character, don't think of the night sky—think of your own body.”
More in the 月 meat story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
月

Also built on meat (月)

All 63
巴

Also built on comma-design (巴)

The 巴 family reads ハ (ha); 肥 is read ヒ.

Also read ヒ

22 kanji share this on'yomiAll 22

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
肥 fertilizer · 巴
vs胞 placenta · 包
肥 has 巴 where 胞 has 包.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · féi

Same form: 肥 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
肥 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
肥 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin féi most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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