吃药 (chī yào) — to take medicine | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

离合词 (separable verb): insert 完 or 了 between 吃 and 药 (吃完了药). Literally 'eat medicine', the standard colloquial way to say 'take medicine'.

verb

to take medicine

吃药？
Nǐ měi tiān àn shí chī yào le ma?
Do you take your medicine on time every day?
。
Wǒ chī wán yào jiù qù shuì jiào.
I'll go to sleep after I finish taking the medicine.
。
Zhè zhǒng yào yì tiān yào chī liǎng cì.
This medicine needs to be taken twice a day.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

药yàomedicine

吃 denotes taking into the mouth and 药 denotes medicine, so together they mean taking medicine.

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.

口乞吃

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

乞

乞qǐ吃chī

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

吃 combines 口 (mouth) with 乞, which gives the sound; it originally wrote a word meaning to stutter.

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.

艹樂藥

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.

Appears in