脂 (zhī): fat; grease; oil

Meanings

1 fat; grease; oil
2 rouge; cosmetics

Characters

脂

zhī

fat; grease

Examples

这种食物含有很多脂肪。

Zhèzhǒng shíwù hányǒu hěnduō zhīfáng.

This type of food contains a lot of fat.

她用脂粉打扮自己。

Tā yòng zhī fěn dǎbàn zìjǐ.

She dressed herself up with rouge and powder.

Tips

usage

脂 rarely appears alone in modern Chinese. It's most common in compounds: 脂肪 (fat), 油脂 (grease/oil), 脂粉 (cosmetics), 松脂 (pine resin).

memory

The radical 月 (flesh/body) on the left hints at body fat, while 旨 (zhǐ) provides the sound.

Components

radical

⺼ ròu

meat; flesh (radical form)

Left-side meat-flesh radical, side-form of 肉, visually identical to 月 (moon) but historically distinct — it pictures cut meat with two horizontal ribs of fat. Anchors 脂 in the body-anatomy family alongside 肝, 肠, 肺, 胸. 脂 specifically names body fat and grease.

phonetic

旨 zhǐ

purpose; tasty (here phonetic)

Right side 旨 supplies the sound — zhǐ drifting to zhī with a tone shift. Originally 旨 pictured a spoon over a mouth, meaning 'something tasty.' In 脂 it is pure phonetic, but the latent flavour-sense fits nicely with rich, fatty foods. Same phonetic powers 指 (point).