腔

• Pinyin: qiāng
• Hanzi breakdown: 腔 = 月/肉 (body/flesh radical) + 空 (empty, hollow — indicating a cavity or hollow space within the body)

Meaning

A hollow cavity or chamber in the body; a person's accent, tone of voice, or manner of speaking; a tune or melodic pattern in traditional performance.

Appears in many compound words: 胸腔 (chest cavity), 腹腔 (abdominal cavity), 口腔 (oral cavity). In colloquial speech, 腔 or 腔调 refers to a regional accent or manner of speech. In traditional opera, it describes a characteristic melodic style unique to a school or genre.

Examples

1. 医生在手术前仔细检查了患者腹腔的影像资料，确认了病灶的具体位置。 Before the operation, the doctor carefully reviewed the imaging of the patient’s abdominal cavity to confirm the exact location of the lesion.
2. 他一开口，浓重的四川腔立刻让在场的人忍俊不禁，气氛顿时轻松起来。 The moment he started speaking, his strong Sichuan accent made everyone burst out laughing, and the atmosphere immediately relaxed.
3. 传统戏曲中，每个流派都有其独特的腔调，细微的差别体现着深厚的艺术传承。 In traditional Chinese opera, each school has its own distinctive vocal style, and subtle differences reflect a deep artistic lineage.

Usage Guide

Context: medicine, everyday, arts

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 这位外省官员的普通话里带着明显的地方腔，虽然不影响表达，却为他的演讲增添了几分亲切感。(This official from another province spoke Mandarin with a noticeable regional accent; although it did not affect comprehension, it added a touch of warmth and approachability to his speech.)
• 胸腔在发声时起到共鸣箱的作用，专业歌手需要学会控制胸腔共鸣，才能唱出饱满而有穿透力的声音。(The chest cavity acts as a resonance chamber during vocalisation; professional singers need to learn to control chest resonance in order to produce a full, penetrating sound.)

Don't Say

• 他的腔很好 — 腔 alone is too ambiguous; specify 口腔卫生很好 (good oral hygiene), 腔调很好听 (accent sounds pleasant), or 共鸣腔控制得好 (good control of resonance cavity) to avoid confusion

Origin & History

腔 = 月/肉 (flesh/body radical) + 空 (empty/hollow — phonetic and semantic: a hollow space in the body)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal