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患者 (huàn zhě) — patient (in medical context)

Definition

Clinical/formal word for 'patient', common in medical writing and hospital settings. 病人 is the everyday spoken equivalent. Compare with 病情 ('state of an illness'), not a person.

noun
patient (in medical context)
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • 患者。
    Zhè wèi huàn zhě xū yào mǎ shàng shǒu shù.
    This patient needs surgery immediately.
  • 患者，。
    Yī shēng jiàn yì huàn zhě duō xiū xi, àn shí chī yào.
    The doctor advised the patient to rest more and take medicine on time.
  • 患者。
    Yī yuàn lǐ yǒu hěn duō huàn zhě zài děng dài zhì liáo.
    In the hospital, there are many patients waiting for treatment.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

患huànsuffer
者zhěone who

'患' (suffer) and '者' (one who) name a person who suffers an illness.

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
心心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
串
串chuàn患huàn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

患 is made from 心, a heart, plus 串, which gives the sound. Some old explanations also read the upper part as piercing through the heart.

Open 患 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The form 者 originally drew a sugarcane with full stems, small points around it, and an open smiling mouth at the bottom.

Open 者 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6HSK 2.0 Level 6Hospital & Clinic5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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