In Japanese, in order “to take” a medicine orally you 飲む it; regardless of its physical form.
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Nah yeah, makes sense to be tripped up, but in this case the contradiction is the point. I’d say 塗り薬 is a phrasing specifically in contrast to, e.g. 飲み薬. So the intended use you can be sure is via 塗る’ing.
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Would you say that for things you don’t ingest though, like ointments?
Yeah that’s the key I missed, it’s the issue when you’re not good in a language, usually when I read something in Japanese and it sounds incoherent I assume that I messed up, not that it’s on purpose…
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I edited my post to clarify that this is about taking medicine orally, so pills, cough syrups, medicinal herbs, magic dust…
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Oh I see what you mean, you say that 飲む just means “ingest” here, and not drink. Got it.
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Yes, 飲む can also mean “to swallow” so that’s probably where this generic use for taking medicine comes from.
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