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

HSK 3

这头猪长了很多膘。

Zhè tóu zhū zhǎng le hěnduō biāo.

This pig has put on a lot of fat.

HSK 7-9

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, '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, 飘, 嫖). 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.