sāi

variant of 腮[sai1]

flesh (⺼) + sound sāi (思) = cheeks

The flesh radical (⺼) grounds the meaning in the body — specifically the fleshy parts of the face. 思 contributes the sound sāi rather than any idea of thinking.

+
FleshSemantic
To thinkPhonetic

她的边有两个小酒窝。

tā de sāi biān yǒu liǎng gè xiǎo jiǔwō。

She has two small dimples on her cheeks.

孩子冷得直把手捂在上取暖。

háizi lěng de zhí bǎ shǒu wǔ zài sāi shàng qǔnuǎn。

The child was so cold that they kept pressing their hands against their cheeks to warm up.

Words with 腮

麻腮风

má sāi fēng

measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) (abbr. for 麻疹[ma2 zhen3] + 流行性腮腺炎[liu2 xing2 xing4 sai1 xian4 yan2] + 風疹|风疹[feng1 zhen3])

托腮

tuō sāi

to rest one's chin in one's hand

抓耳挠腮

zhuā ěr náo sāi

to tweak one's ears and scratch one's cheeks (as an expression of anxiety, delight, frustration etc) (idiom)

桃腮粉脸

táo sāi fěn liǎn

rosy-cheeked (idiom)

笨嘴拙腮

bèn zuǐ zhuō sāi

see 笨嘴拙舌[ben4 zui3 zhuo1 she2]

络腮胡子

luò sāi hú zi

full beard

腮颊

sāi jiá

cheek

腮帮

sāi bāng

cheek

腮帮子

sāi bāng zi

cheek

腮托

sāi tuō

chin rest (e.g. for a violin)

腮红

sāi hóng

rouge (cosmetics)

腮腺

sāi xiàn

parotid gland

More characters with ⺼