膏 (gāo): paste; cream; ointment

Meanings

1 paste; cream; ointment
2 grease; fat

Characters

膏

gāo

paste; cream; grease

Examples

医生给他开了一种药膏。

Yīshēng gěi tā kāi le yī zhǒng yàogāo.

The doctor prescribed an ointment for him.

别忘了挤牙膏。

Bié wàng le jǐyágāo.

Don't forget to squeeze the toothpaste.

她每天晚上都涂面膏。

Tā měitiān wǎnshang dōu tú miàn gāo.

She applies face cream every night.

Tips

usage

膏 usually appears in compounds: 牙膏 (toothpaste), 药膏 (ointment), 膏药 (medicated plaster), 润肤膏 (skin cream). Standalone 膏 is literary.

history

In classical Chinese, 膏 referred to animal fat, and by extension to anything rich or fertile: 民脂民膏 (mínzhī mín gāo) means 'the people's blood and sweat' (fat and grease), referring to wealth extracted from common people.

Components

radical

⺼ ròu

meat; flesh (radical form)

Bottom meat-flesh radical (the side-form of 肉, visually identical to 月 moon but a different semantic source) — the indexing radical. Anchors 膏 in the body/substance family alongside 脂 fat, 膜 membrane. Originally the rendered fat sealed atop a stew; that primal grease became today's creams, balms, and pastes.

phonetic

高 gāo

tall; high (here phonetic)

Top 高 supplies the sound gāo, an exact match with no drift. The same phonetic powers 稿 manuscript, 搞 to do, 篙 punting pole, 镐 pickaxe. Faint semantic flavor of 'rich, refined' may have helped tag 膏 for premium oils and ointments rendered from animal fat.