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Kotomora

肪

obese, fat

JLPTN1StatusJōyō · secondary schoolFrequencyTop 2,000Strokes8

Readings

On'yomi

  • ボウ

Kun'yomi

—

Meaning

肪 centers on excess body tissue: being obese or having fat. Both meanings point to the same physical idea of fatty flesh.

Most common words using 肪

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Study

Etymology

肪 combines ⺼ (flesh/meat) with 方, which likely contributes the sound. The flesh radical points to the meaning related to body tissue or fat.

Meaning mnemonic

The left side ⺼ is flesh, and the right side 方 looks like a square chunk. Picture a square slab of fatty flesh: that's 肪, meaning fat or obese.

Reading mnemonic

For ボウ, imagine a bow (as in bow and arrow) made of fat: bow -> ボウ, and the fatty bow is too soft to shoot.