CJK Unified Ideograph-80EF

胯 means the hip, groin, or space between the thighs.

The earliest evidence I can defend is the Shuowen small-seal tradition. In the sources checked in 2026, I found no defensible oracle-bone, bronze, or bamboo attestation.

It was built as a body-part character: 肉 marks the semantic field, while 夸 supplies the sound. Older lexicons also record it for belt ornaments and a tea measure, so its written history once extended beyond anatomy.

What does 胯下之辱 mean?

In 胯下之辱, it becomes a story about humiliation and endurance.

The phrase comes from the Shiji account of Han Xin being challenged to crawl beneath a man's legs. Later teaching material reads 胯下之辱 as enduring humiliation instead of fighting for pride, because a larger purpose matters more.

So 胯 can be anatomically literal or culturally loaded; translate the whole compound, not 胯 in isolation.

Is 胯 the same as 跨?

Usually no: 胯 names the body area; 跨 describes crossing or straddling.

The characters are historically connected: dictionaries record 胯 as sharing some senses with 跨, and Japanese reference works preserve 胯 in words such as 胯下 and 胯間 alongside 股 and 跨. Modern Chinese still gives readers a useful default: anatomical 胯, movement-oriented 跨.