胸 means “chest, breast, heart”

むね · mune

Also: bosom

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

むね, むな-

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

キョウ

JLPT N2 · Taught in grade 6 · 10 strokes

The story

Flesh (月) and a wrapping (勹) folded around a crossed frame (凶): picture the ribcage closed around the heart. 胸 is the chest, and feelings live there too: 胸がいっぱい is a heart too full for words, and 度胸 is nerve.

Used in 胸 (mune, chest), 度胸 (dokyou, nerve/guts), and 胸焼け (muneyake, heartburn)

More from The Human Body

• 腕 arm
• 毛 hair
• 肩 shoulder
• 腰 lower back
• 涙 tears
• 汗 sweat
• 肌 skin
• 胃 stomach
• 膚 skin
• 脳 brain
• 臓 internal organ
• 皮 skin

Learn 胸 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.