失眠症 (shī mián zhēng) — insomnia | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

insomnia

Examples

失眠症。
Tā yīn wèi gōng zuò yā lì tài dà dé le shī mián zhēng.
He got insomnia because of too much work pressure.
失眠症。
shī mián zhēng Ràng tā de shēng huó zhì liàng dà dà xià jiàng le.
Insomnia has greatly reduced her quality of life.
失眠症。
Yī shēng jiàn yì tā yòng zhōng yào zhì liáo shī mián zhēng.
The doctor suggested she treat her insomnia with Chinese medicine.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

失眠lose sleep

失shīlose眠miánsleep

动宾Verb + object

症zhèngcondition

“失眠” means losing sleep, and “症” denotes a condition, so the word means insomnia.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

手手shǒu
乙乙yǐ

The shape is explained as a fallen person's footprint surrounded by drops of blood; another reading pairs 手 (hand) and 乙 to show something falling from a hand.

Open 失 →

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

目民眠

Meaning part形符xíngfú

目目mùeye

Sound part声符shēngfú

民

民mín眠mián

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

眠 uses 目 (eye) to show the idea of closing the eyes, with 民 giving the sound.

Open 眠 →

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