rou4

rou4 means 'flesh'

• How is the Character pronounced?
• What are the calligraphy steps?

rou4 has two components . The first component is nei meaning 'inside' (originally written with  meaning 'small area'-'enter') and the second component is ren2 meaning 'man' (a stick figure of a walking person). What is inside man is 'flesh' or 'meat'.

rou4ma3 means 'nauseating' or 'disgusting' and literally translates as 'flesh'-'numb' i.e. goose-pimples.

ma can also be written as  which breaks down into  and means 'sickness in forest' (the two 'trees' make up a forest). 'Numbness' is akin to the eerie feeling one gets when one is lost in a forest.

gu3rou4 means 'offspring' and literally translates as 'bone'-'flesh' i.e. of my bone and flesh.

gu3 in ancient script  looks very much like a skeleton. Some etymologists deemed its origins to be from  meaning 'scraped flesh' i.e. only bones left.