肚子
belly; stomach
HSK level
- Pinyin
- dùzi
- Part of speech
- noun
- Level
- HSK 4
- Strokes
- 10
- Register
- neutral
- Measure word
- 个
Stroke order for 肚子
肚子 is written with 10 strokes (肚: 7, 子: 3). The animation replays automatically.
What does 肚子 mean?
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.'
Example sentences
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
Common phrases with 肚子
Synonyms
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.
Don't confuse 肚子 with
FAQ
Acquire it by listening
Meet 肚子 again — in real Chinese, at your level.
Fluentide turns real news into Chinese listening at your exact level, so words like 肚子 show up again and again in natural sentences — with pinyin and translation every time. No flashcards. Free to start.