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肉欲 (ròu yù) — lust, carnal desire

Definition

Literary word for 'carnal / physical lust,' used mostly in writing about literature, philosophy, or psychology — stronger and more abstract than the everyday 色欲 or 性欲.

noun
lustcarnal desire

Examples

  • 肉欲。
    Tā wú fǎ kòng zhì zì jǐ de ròu yù.
    He couldn't control his own lust.
  • 肉欲。
    ròu yù Shì zhè bù xiǎo shuō de zhòng yào zhǔ tí zhī yī.
    Lust is one of the important themes of this novel.
  • 肉欲。
    Tā de zuò pǐn chōng mǎn le duì ròu yù de miáo xiě.
    His works are full of descriptions of lust.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

肉ròuflesh
欲yùdesire

肉 means flesh and 欲 means desire, so together they express a fleshly desire.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The original shape of 肉 showed ribs of an animal’s torso, or simply a slice of meat.

Open 肉 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
欠欠qiàn
Sound part声符shēngfú
谷
谷gǔ欲yù
Same sound today

欲 is made of 谷, which supplies the sound, and 欠, which relates to the meaning.

Open 欲 →
Appears in
Emotions & FeelingsRomance & Marriage

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