膨

Phono-semantic compound:

肉 (또는 月) — semantic element, indicating flesh/body or organic matter

彭 (성 팽) — phonetic element, providing sound (péng) and also the idea of expansive force (彭 appears in characters relating to booming, swelling, or resounding)

Thus 膨 originally described the swelling of bodily tissue or organic matter, and by extension any process of inflation or expansion.

Semantic development

Physical swelling:

- flesh swelling from heat, injury, or water

- organic or material expansion

Inflation / enlargement:

- swelling of objects, balloons, bags, containers

- numerical or economic inflation (prices, costs)

Figurative expansion:

- swelling of pride, ambition

- exaggerated or inflated speech

Modern scientific usage:

- gas expansion, thermal expansion

- 膨脹 widely used in physics, chemistry, economics

In Korean, 膨 is read 팽 and appears mainly in Sino-Korean scientific, economic, and technical vocabulary.

Physical swelling (붇다 / 부풀다):

膨脹(팽창); 부풀어 오르다; 붇다 — to expand; to swell; to inflate

氣體膨脹(기체 팽창); 기체가 열로 인해 부풀다 — thermal expansion of gas

體積膨脹(체적 팽창); 물체의 부피가 커지다 — increase in volume; expansion

Economic / social usage:

通貨膨脹(통화 팽창); 물가 상승; 화폐 가치 하락 — inflation (increase in money supply / price inflation)

수요 팽창(需要膨脹); 수요가 급격히 늘어나다 — demand expansion

Figurative meaning (과장·확대):

膨大(팽대); 부풀려 말하다; 과장되다 — to exaggerate; to inflate (in description)

自我膨脹(자아 팽창); 자존심·자아의 과도한 확대 — ego inflation; inflated sense of self

Used in medical descriptions of swelling in medical/scientific contexts.

《本草綱目》(Compendium of Materia Medica)

「氣膨脹於腹。」

“Qi swells and expands in the abdomen.”

《格致鏡原》(Ming-Qing scientific encyclopedia)

「火熱則物膨大。」

“When exposed to heat, substances swell and expand.”