About
The character 腽 is a standard phono-semantic compound: the flesh radical, traditionally written as 月 (a reduced form of 肉) on the left, anchors it in the semantic field of human or animal anatomy, bodily states, and organic tissue, while the phonetic component 昷 on the right provides the sound. Its original meaning is extreme fatness or plumpness, describing a heavy, rotund physique in humans or animals. The flesh radical marks it as a biological attribute, distinguishing it from non-physical kinds of thickness or width. In modern usage, it is almost exclusively encountered in the zoological compound 腽肭, the word for seals or fur seals, referencing their thick, blubber-rich bodies.
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