fat, grease, lard, paste, ointment, plaster
膏 centers on thick, oily substances used for lubrication, nourishment, or medicinal application: fat, grease, lard, paste, ointment, and plaster all share this dense, spreadable quality.
膏 combines 高 (tall, high) with 月 (flesh/meat), suggesting the rich, fatty part of meat that rises to the top when cooked. The modern form preserves this idea of concentrated animal fat.
Picture a tall pot (高) with a layer of congealed fat (月) floating on top. That thick, oily layer is 膏—fat, grease, or ointment.
For コウ, imagine a cook spreading thick grease on a pan: the cook's action cues コウ, and the grease is the 膏 itself.
ointment; salve
plaster; gypsum; calcium sulphate (sulfate)
adhesive bandage; sticking plaster; band-aid
Oronine H Ointment
double-dealer; timeserver; moving back and forth between two sides in a conflict
zinc oxide ointment
double-dealer; fence-sitter; timeserver; moving back and forth between two sides in a conflict; duplicity; turncoat
anointed one
massaging plaster
calcined gypsum; plaster of Paris
one can give a plausible argument for anything
to become seriously ill; to catch an incurable illness
eye ointment
plaster figure; plaster bust
anhydrite
plaster (type of bandage)
double-dealer; timeserver; moving back and forth between two sides in a conflict
fertile soil; fertile land; fertility
innermost part of the body (where a disease cannot be treated)
fertile soil; fertile land; fertility