脂

Formed as a phono-semantic compound combining:

肉 (월 / 月 radical) — meaning “flesh” or “body,” serving as the semantic component;

旨 (뜻 지) — meaning “delightful” or “fine-tasting,” providing the phonetic cue.

Thus, 脂 originally conveyed the idea of “richness within the flesh”, referring both to edible fat and to the unctuous, glistening quality associated with it.

지방 (脂肪) — fat (biological or nutritional).

지유 (脂油) — oily substance; animal grease.

지분 (脂粉) — cosmetics, literally “fat and powder,” metaphorically “women’s adornment.”

지류 (脂流) — “flow of fat,” sometimes poetic for bodily smoothness or luxury.

In literary and metaphorical contexts, 脂 can connote beauty, refinement, or decadence, especially when paired with 粉 (“powder”), as in 脂粉氣 (“the air of feminine elegance or luxury”).

In traditional East Asian aesthetics, fat or oil (脂) symbolized luminosity and vitality.

Oil was the source of lamplight, giving rise to expressions like 脂燭 (fat lamp) — light fueled by tallow. Thus, 脂 was associated with both bodily nourishment and spiritual illumination.

In literature, 脂 often appears in sensual or refined imagery:

脂粉香氣 (“fragrance of rouge and fat”) evokes feminine beauty and elegance.

脂膏 (grease ointment) was used for ritual anointing, connecting the sacred and the sensory.

Hence, 脂 bridges the notions of physical nourishment, material refinement, and aesthetic radiance, embodying a harmony of body and beauty.