肉 – Kanji Meaning, Reading, and Common Words

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What does 肉 mean in Japanese?

肉 means meat or flesh. It is one of the most practical food kanji in Japanese: the word 肉 (niku, meat) is used on its own at supermarkets, restaurants, and dinner tables every day.

The on’yomi ニク covers almost every use: 牛肉 (gyuuniku, beef), 豚肉 (butaniku, pork), and 焼肉 (yakiniku, grilled meat). Unusually for such a common kanji, 肉 has no everyday kun’yomi. The character is said to come from a drawing of a cut of meat, and as the radical にくづき it appears in many kanji for parts of the body.

Reading

On’yomi: ニク (niku)

Kun’yomi: —

Basic Information

Kanji 肉
Meaning meat, flesh
Stroke Count 6
JLPT Level N4

How to Understand This Kanji

肉 (niku) by itself means meat in general. The most useful pattern is animal + 肉: 牛肉 (gyuuniku, beef), 豚肉 (butaniku, pork), and 鶏肉 (toriniku, chicken) name the three meats you will see on every menu. 焼肉 (yakiniku) is grilled meat, and also names the popular style of restaurant where you grill it yourself at the table. 肉屋 (nikuya) is a butcher shop, using the shop suffix 屋. In casual speech 肉 often implies beef or the main meat of a dish, but on labels it is a neutral category word.

Common Words

  • 肉（にく / niku） — meat
  • 牛肉（ぎゅうにく / gyuuniku） — beef
  • 豚肉（ぶたにく / butaniku） — pork
  • 鶏肉（とりにく / toriniku） — chicken (meat)
  • 焼肉（やきにく / yakiniku） — grilled meat; Japanese-style BBQ
  • 肉屋（にくや / nikuya） — butcher shop

Example Sentences

  • スーパーで牛肉を買いました。

    すーぱーでぎゅうにくをかいました。 / Suupaa de gyuuniku o kaimashita.

    I bought beef at the supermarket.

  • 私は肉より魚のほうが好きです。

    わたしはにくよりさかなのほうがすきです。 / Watashi wa niku yori sakana no hou ga suki desu.

    I like fish better than meat.

  • 昨日、友達と焼肉を食べに行きました。

    きのう、ともだちとやきにくをたべにいきました。 / Kinou, tomodachi to yakiniku o tabe ni ikimashita.

    Yesterday I went to eat yakiniku with my friends.

Related Kanji

  • 牛

    — Cow — 牛肉 (beef) = 牛 + 肉; the animal + 肉 pattern is the fastest way to build your meat vocabulary

  • 魚

    — Fish — 肉 and 魚 are the two big protein categories on Japanese menus, and they often appear side by side (肉より魚が好き)

  • 食

    — Eat/food — 肉を食べる (to eat meat); 食 supplies the verbs and meal words that 肉 naturally pairs with

When Learners Usually See This Kanji

Lock in the animal + 肉 pattern first: 牛 (cow) + 肉 = 牛肉 (beef), 豚 (pig) + 肉 = 豚肉 (pork), 鶏 (chicken) + 肉 = 鶏肉 (chicken meat). Learning 肉 effectively gives you a whole menu of words at once.

肉 is a rare example of a very common kanji with no everyday kun’yomi: you will meet the reading ニク in nearly every word. That makes it a low-effort, high-reward kanji to remember.

As a component, 肉 becomes the body radical にくづき, which looks like 月. Kanji for body parts, such as 腹 (stomach) and 背 (back), carry it on the left. Spotting it helps you guess that an unknown kanji is body-related.

Summary

肉 means meat, read ニク in almost every word. Master the animal + 肉 pattern (牛肉, 豚肉, 鶏肉) and restaurant words like 焼肉 to put it to use immediately.