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臃肿 (yōng zhǒng) — (of a person) obese, overweight; (of a body part) bloated, swollen; (figurative, of writing style) overblown, ornate; (of an organization) overstaffed, bloated

Definition

Literary/formal adjective used in writing for 'bloated'. Applied to a body (overweight, swollen), or figuratively to organizations (overstaffed) and writing style (overly ornate) — stronger and more rhetorical than everyday 胖.

adjective
(of a person) obeseoverweight(of a body part) bloatedswollen(figurative, of writing style) overblownornate(of an organization) overstaffedbloated

Examples

  • ，臃肿。
    Tā zuì jìn biàn pàng le, kàn qǐ lái yǒu diǎn yōng zhǒng.
    He's gained weight recently and looks a bit overweight.
  • 臃肿。
    Tā de jiǎo bèi wén zi yǎo dé yòu hóng yòu yōng zhǒng.
    Her foot was bitten by a mosquito and is all red and swollen.
  • ，臃肿。
    Zhèng fǔ jué dìng cái yuán, yīn wèi jī gòu tài yōng zhǒng le.
    The government decided to downsize because the organization was too bloated.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

臃yōngbloated/swollen
肿zhǒngswelling/swollen

臃 and 肿 both suggest swelling, giving a sense of bloated, oversized form.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 腫; 肿 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
肉肉ròumeat, flesh
Sound part声符shēngfú
重
重zhòng腫zhǒng
Same sound today

The traditional form 腫 combines 肉 (flesh) with 重 as a sound part; the simplified 肿 is a later shorthand.

Open 肿 →
Appears in
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