DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

瘦肉精

Mandarin · pinyin shòu ròu jīng

leanness-enhancing agent (for livestock)

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

瘦: shòu · thin, emaciated, lean; meager
肉: ròu · flesh; meat; Kangxi radical 130
精: jīng · essence; semen; spirit

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–4–1 · shou4 rou4 jing1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

3character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

瘦肉精 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

"lean meat powder" (animal feed additive which promotes productivity of lean meat on domestic animals, including clenbuterol, salbutamol, ractopamine, etc.)

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack