How to Write 肷 (qiǎn) — Meaning “flank (of an animal)”

Imagine the flank of a sheep (羊肷) as a part where the flesh is "missing" something — think of 欠 (deficient) next to 月 (meat). You can also picture a crescent moon (月) with a piece cut out (欠) to represent the curved flank area.

Write the radical 月 on the left with its four strokes: a vertical stroke, then two horizontal strokes, and a short horizontal. Then add 欠 on the right: a short left-falling stroke, a horizontal hook, a vertical stroke, and a right-falling stroke. Keep the right side slightly narrower than the left to balance the character.

肷 has 欠 (qiàn) on the right side, while 有 has 又 (yòu, meaning "hand") and 朊 has 元 (yuán, meaning "origin"). Visually, 欠 looks like a person leaning forward with an open mouth, whereas 又 is like a crossed hand and 元 is a complete character with two strokes at the top.

肷 is a specialized term used mainly in animal anatomy, meat trade, and fur processing — for example, 羊肷 refers to the flank cut of lamb. It is not part of everyday vocabulary (HSK) and appears mostly in technical or commercial descriptions of animal body parts.

Common words containing 肷 include: 羊肷 (yáng qiǎn) — Sheep flank; 肷皮 (qiǎn pí) — flank fur or skin; 狐肷 (hú qiǎn) — Fox belly fur.