"cheek(s)"

[tooironic]

I've come across quite a few different ways to say "cheek(s)" in Chinese (the ones on your face):

• 脸颊 (lĭanjía)
  
• 脸蛋 (liǎndàn)
  
• 脸蛋子 (liǎndànzi)
  
• 腮 (sāi)
  
• 腮帮子 (sāibāngzi)
  
• 面颊 (miànjiá)
  
• 脸皮 (liǎnpí)
  
• 颊 (jiá)
  
• 两颊 (liǎngjiá)
  

How do we differentiate between them, and which is most common? Cheers.

[roddy]

How about you show us where you came across them and what you've figured out about their usage . . .

[tooironic]

I merely looked up every dictionary and online resource I could. The reason I'm posting about them is because I don't know much about them except that, perhaps, 脸颊 is most common and 腮帮子 is colloquial but this is only a guess and I don't want to influence the content of the replies.

[anonymoose]

I think you'll find some of them mean "face", not cheeks specifically.

[HeWei2]

I've only ever heard 脸颊 in common usage (in Taiwan and Shanghai), so I'd be inclined to use that one.

[xiaocai]

I think, generally:

脸颊=腮=腮帮子=颊=面颊=cheek, where as 两颊 means both cheeks, obviously. They are practically synonyms, while some are more formal (e.g. 面颊) and some are less (e.g. 腮帮子).

脸蛋 usually means the whole face, but sometimes it particularly refers to the cheeks as a part of the whole face.

脸皮: facial skin? But I assume that you know it has kind of special meaning in Chinese when someone says 脸皮厚 or 脸皮薄. And I think this is actually the most common use of "脸皮".

[abcdefg]

I’ve often heard 脸蛋 in Kunming. The particular context that sticks in my mind is when the weather was turning cold (it really isn’t “Eternal Spring” there) and girls walking the streets developed a ruddy, healthy-looking flush in their cheeks. It was used as part of a polite compliment.