53034
When hearing (not reading) 口唇 in a sentence, should it be assumed that the
speaker is saying "lips" and not "red lips" (紅唇)? If not, what cues can be
used to determine which is being meant?

I know that 赤い唇 also means red lips, and I would assume that it is used to
avoid ambiguity.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-05T01:16:10.060
53032
2017-09-05T02:18:45.463
23922
question
word-choice kanji synonyms
Telling the words 口唇 and 紅唇 apart contextually
How was 口唇 pronounced when you heard it?  
Anyway we **only** say くちびる for lips.  
If you have a chance to read 口唇, it's correct to pronounce it as こうしん. You may
have no chance to hear こうしん for lips in daily life, because the sound has a
lot of homonyms like 行進 _march/parade_ , 更新 _update_ , 交信 _communication_ ,
etc, that are more familiar than 口唇.

I think that "口唇{こうしん}" is a medical term used only in an oral hospital and
the like apart from daily use, and in that case 口唇｛こうしん｝ simply means lips and
does not mean 紅唇 that could be understood as "red lips".

Usually we say "赤い唇｛くちびる｝" or "唇｛くちびる｝が赤い" for "red lips", not
"紅{あか}い唇{くちびる}".

"紅" isn't good for expressing being red for lips but good for cheeks, like
"紅｛あか｝い頬｛ほほ｝" or "紅｛あか｝い頬｛ほ｝っぺた".
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-05T02:15:50.713
53034
2017-09-05T02:18:45.463
2017-09-05T02:18:45.463
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answer