How to Write 腮 (sāi) — Meaning “cheek”

Imagine your cheek is where you rest your hand when you are deep in thought — the right side 思 means 'think.' So remember: your cheek (腮) is the place you touch when thinking (思).

The left radical 月 must be narrow and tall, not wide. The right side 思 has a top field 田 that is slightly smaller than the bottom heart 心 — keep them balanced. A common mistake is making the 月 too wide or misaligning the right components.

腮 (sāi) means 'cheek' and uses the flesh radical 月. 望 (wàng) means 'to look' or 'full moon' and has 月 as a component but with different parts above. 朝 (zhāo/cháo) means 'morning' or 'dynasty' and includes 月 but with 十 and 早. They look different and have no shared meaning.

腮 is used in words for body parts like 腮帮子 (cheek) and 腮红 (blush makeup). It also appears in 鱼腮 (fish gills). It is not common in basic HSK vocabulary, but you may see it in beauty or biology contexts.

Common words containing 腮 include: 腮帮子 (sāi bāng zi) — cheek; 鱼腮 (yú sāi) — Fish gills; 腮红 (sāi hóng) — blush.