膘 (biāo): body fat (of livestock)

Meanings

1 body fat (of livestock)
2 subcutaneous fat layer
3 flesh on an animal

Characters

膘

biāo

fat on an animal; subcutaneous fat

Examples

这头猪长了很多膘。

Zhè tóu zhū zhǎng le hěnduō biāo.

This pig has put on a lot of fat.

秋天贴膘是北方的传统习俗。

Qiūtiān tiē biāo shì běifāng de chuántǒng xísú.

Gaining weight in autumn is a traditional custom in northern China.

Tips

culture

贴秋膘 (tiē qiū biāo) — 'adding autumn fat' — refers to the Chinese tradition of eating hearty foods in early autumn to prepare for winter. Today it's used humorously about overeating.

Components

radical

⺼ ròu

meat; flesh (radical form of 肉)

Left ⺼ is the meat-flesh radical — visually identical to 月 'moon' but a separate component, the side-form of 肉. Indexes 膘 with the body / anatomy family (脏 organs, 脚 foot, 胸 chest, 肠 intestine). Carries the core meaning: 膘 names the layer of fat on a livestock animal's body, the visible measure of its condition.

phonetic

票 piào

ticket; note

Right 票 supplies the sound — piào drifting to biāo via the p-/b- alternation visible in the same phonetic series (漂 piāo / piào, 飘 piāo, 嫖 piáo). The 'ticket' meaning doesn't enter; it is a sound-tag. 膘 mostly survives in 长膘 'to put on fat,' usually about livestock or, jokingly, oneself.