belly; stomach
HSK level
肚子 is written with 10 strokes (肚: 7, 子: 3). The animation replays automatically.
肚子 (dùzi) is a noun for the 'belly,' 'abdomen,' or 'stomach' — the front part of the torso below the chest, where you feel hunger, fullness, or a stomachache.
It's the everyday word for the physical belly area: 肚子疼 ('stomachache'), 肚子饿 ('hungry,' literally 'belly hungry'), 大肚子 ('a big belly / pregnant'). English speakers should distinguish 肚子 (the general belly you point to) from 胃 (wèi), the actual stomach organ that doctors and medical talk refer to (胃病, 'stomach illness'). In casual speech, hunger, digestive discomfort, and a full feeling all center on 肚子, not 胃.
The 子 is a noun suffix and is toneless (dùzi). 肚子 is neutral, everyday, and spoken. It also carries the colloquial meaning of pregnancy in 肚子里有了 ('to be expecting'), and metaphorically 一肚子 X means 'full of X' (一肚子委屈, 'full of grievances').
Character by character
Memory hook: 肚 has the 月 (flesh/body) radical — a body part; add 子 and you get the everyday word for 'belly.'
我肚子饿了，我们去吃饭吧。
Wǒ dùzi è le, wǒmen qù chīfàn ba.
I'm hungry, let's go eat.
spoken
他吃坏了东西，肚子疼。
Tā chī huài le dōngxi, dùzi téng.
He ate something bad and has a stomachache.
spoken
吃太多了，肚子好饱。
Chī tài duō le, dùzi hǎo bǎo.
I ate too much — my belly is so full.
spoken
她挺着大肚子，快要生了。
Tā tǐng zhe dà dùzi, kuài yào shēng le.
She has a big belly and is about to give birth.
neutral
胃 is the stomach organ specifically, used in medical and precise contexts (胃疼, 胃病). 肚子 is the general belly area you point to in casual speech. Everyday hunger and aches use 肚子; clinical talk uses 胃.
腹部 is the formal/medical term for 'abdomen,' used in health and anatomy contexts. 肚子 is the plain spoken word for the same area.
Acquire it by listening
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