膀

bǎng
#1,938 most
frequent character
upper arm, wing

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

膀 joins 月 body parts with 旁 páng, which supplies the sound, and first meant the arm between shoulder and elbow. From that came 'upper arm' and 'wing'. Read páng, it appears only in 膀胱 'bladder'; read pāng, it means swollen — both borrowed for the sound.

Ask DeepSeek

Same Characters, Different Readings

膀bàng
used in 吊膀子[diao4 bang4 zi5]
膀pāng
puffed (swollen)
膀páng
used in 膀胱[pang2guang1]
膀bǎng
old variant of 膀[bang3]

Homophones

绑bǎng
to tie

Your word lists

Sign in to add this word to your private lists.