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流行性 (liú xíng xìng) — (medicine) epidemic; epidemic nature

Definition

A medical/formal noun meaning 'epidemic nature' — the quality of spreading widely through a population. Usually appears before a disease name (流行性感冒) or after 的 to describe how contagious something is.

noun
(medicine) epidemicepidemic nature

Examples

  • 流行性，。
    Zhè zhǒng bìng de liú xíng xìng hěn qiáng, xū yào jǐn kuài gé lí.
    This disease is highly epidemic and needs to be quarantined as soon as possible.
  • 流行性。
    liú xíng xìng Gǎn mào měi nián dōng tiān dōu huì chū xiàn.
    Influenza appears every winter.
  • 流行性。
    Yī shēng zhèng zài yán jiū zhè zhǒng bìng dú de liú xíng xìng.
    Doctors are studying the epidemic nature of this virus.

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.

流行spread
流liúflow行xínggo
联合Coordinate
性xìngnature

流 and 行 convey spreading, while 性 gives the sense of an epidemic quality.

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
水水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
㐬
㐬㐬流liú
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

流 has 水, water, and 㐬, which gives the sound. The water part matches meanings such as flow.

Open 流 →

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

  • 彳彳chì
  • 亍亍chù

The shape of 行 originally showed a street intersection, even on both sides. Later it became uneven, with 彳 on the left and 亍 on the right.

Open 行 →

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
忄Written in full as心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
生
生shēng性xìng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

性 is built from 忄 (the heart) and 生 (a sound clue). The heart part connects the word to a person's inner nature or quality.

Open 性 →
Appears in
Illness & Symptoms

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