候诊 (hòu zhěn) — to wait for a medical consultation; to wait to…

Definition

verb

to wait for a medical consultationto wait to see the doctor

候诊。
Bìng rén dōu zài zhěn shì wài hòu zhěn.
The patients are all waiting outside the consultation room.
候诊。
Qǐng ná hǎo bìng lì kǎ dào hòu zhěn qū děng hòu.
Please take your medical record card and wait in the waiting area.
候诊。
Yī yuàn zǎo shàng qī diǎn jiù kāi shǐ hòu zhěn le.
At the hospital, people start waiting for consultations as early as seven in the morning.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

诊zhěnmedical examination

候 means to wait, and 诊 refers to medical examination, so the word means waiting for a consultation.

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

矦

矦hóu候hòu

Same sound today

候 combines 亻, relating to people, with 矦, which gives the sound.

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 診; 诊 is its simplified writing.

言㐱診

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

㐱

㐱㐱診zhěn

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In the traditional form 診, the left part 言 relates to speech, and the right part 㐱 gives the sound; the simplified 诊 is a later shorthand.