How to Write 肱 (gōng) — Meaning “upper arm; humerus”

Imagine your upper arm (肱) is strong from doing hard work (工). Since 工 means 'work' and looks like a tool or a strong arm muscle, picture a worker flexing their biceps to recall the shape and sound.

The left radical 月 must be written narrow and tall, not wide like the moon character. The right part 工 should be centered vertically, with the top horizontal stroke shorter than the bottom one. A common mistake is making the 月 too fat or misaligning the two components.

有 (yǒu, to have) has the same left radical 月 but adds 又 on the right, and its meaning is unrelated to body parts. 朊 (ruǎn, soft; also a chemical term) looks similar but has 元 on the right instead of 工 and means 'soft' or 'protein'. Only 肱 specifically refers to the upper arm bone.

肱 appears in medical terms like 肱骨 (humerus) and 肱二头肌 (biceps) and in the literary phrase 股肱 (gǔ gōng), meaning 'trusted aide' — literally 'thigh and upper arm' as essential body parts. It is not common in everyday conversation, but you may encounter it in anatomy or classical texts.

Common words containing 肱 include: 肱骨 (gōng gǔ) — humerus; 肱二头肌 (gōng èr tóu jī) — biceps; 股肱 (gǔ gōng) — Right-hand man; trusted aide..