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下药 (xià yào) — to prescribe medication (for someone); to add poison (to food or drink)

Definition

A verb-object phrase whose meaning depends on intent: 'prescribe/give medicine' in medical contexts, or 'poison food/drink' when the agent is covert or hostile. Note the separable form — 下 and 药 can split (在酒里下药 → 在酒里下了药).

verb
to prescribe medication (for someone)to add poison (to food or drink)

Examples

  • 。
    Yī shēng gěi tā xià le yào.
    The doctor prescribed medicine for him.
  • 下药。
    Tā tōu tōu zài jiǔ lǐ xià yào.
    He secretly put poison in the wine.
  • 下药。
    Zhè zhǒng bìng xū yào zǎo xià yào.
    This kind of illness requires early medication.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

下xiàput in
药yàomedicine

下 means to put in or prescribe, and 药 is the medicine or poison used.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

下 is drawn as a short horizontal line below a long curved line.

Open 下 →

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 藥; 药 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
艹Written in full as艸cǎograss
Sound part声符shēngfú
樂
樂lè藥yào
Same sound today

In the traditional form 藥, 艹 shows grass and 樂 gives the sound; this story is about 藥, not about the simplified 药.

Open 药 →
Appears in
Medicine & Treatment

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