医 (yī) — (bound form) medical; medicine; to cure
Definition
医 (yī) is a bound form used as a building block in words for medicine and healthcare (医生 doctor, 医院 hospital, 医学 medical science). It is not used alone in modern Chinese — pair it with 生, 院, 学, etc.
bound form
medicalmedicineto cure
Examples
- 。Wǒ bà ba shì yì míng yī shēng.My father is a doctor.
- 。Zhè jiā yī yuàn yǒu sān bǎi zhāng bìng chuáng.This hospital has three hundred beds.
- 。Tā dà xué xué de shì yī xué.He studied medicine in college.
Origin
Sound + meaning六书liùshū
形声xíngshēngMost 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 醫; 医 is its simplified writing.
Meaning part形符xíngfú
酉酉yǒuliquor
Sound part声符shēngfú
殹
殹yì醫yī
Same sound today
The traditional form 醫 pairs 酉 (liquor) with 殹 as a sound part; the simplified 医 is a shorthand, so its parts are not the historical ones.
Appears in
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