Meaning & readings

fat, grease, tallow, lard, rosin, gum, tar

On’yomi シ
Kun’yomi あぶら

Origin

The character 脂 combines the radical 月, which represents flesh or the body, on the left side with 旨 on the right, which serves as a sound hint for pronunciation. The 月 component makes sense because fat and grease are substances found in or derived from animal bodies. The right side doesn't add meaning but rather tells you how the character sounds when spoken. Together, the shape came to represent fatty substances that occur naturally in flesh.

脂 10 strokes

Components

  • 月 radical left
  • 旨 sound hint right

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 脂身 あぶらみ fat (of meat); fatty meat
  • 脂肪 しぼう fat; grease
  • 樹脂 じゅし resin; rosin
  • 油脂 ゆし fats and oils

Reference

Strokes
10
Kangxi radical
130
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#1548 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+08102