TongTong
Sign in

住院 (zhù yuàn) — to be hospitalized; to be in hospital

Definition

Literally 'stay in hospital' — used for the patient (be hospitalized). Pairs with 出院 ('to be discharged from hospital'). Note it's a separable verb: 住…院, e.g. 住了三天院.

verb
to be hospitalizedto be in hospital
Easily confused

Examples

  • ，住院。
    Tā shēng bìng le, xū yào zhù yuàn.
    He is sick and needs to be hospitalized.
  • 住院？
    Nǐ zhù yuàn duō jiǔ le?
    How long have you been in hospital?
  • 。
    Tā zhù le sān tiān yuàn jiù hǎo le.
    He recovered after three days in hospital.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

住zhùstay
院yuànhospital

住 carries staying, while 院 refers to the hospital, so the word means to stay in a hospital.

Characters in this word

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rén
Sound part声符shēngfú
主
主zhǔ住zhù
Same sound today

住 pairs 亻, the person radical (written fully as 人), with 主, which supplies the sound.

Open 住 →

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
阝Written in full as阜fù
Sound part声符shēngfú
完
完wán院yuàn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

院 is built from 阝, written in full as 阜, and 完, which gives the sound.

Open 院 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 3Hospital & Clinic5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

Browse more HSK 3 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.