用药 (yòng yào) — to take medication, to use medicine (as treatment)

Definition

用药 means 'to use / take medicine', focusing on the act of administering medication rather than the medicine itself. Less common than 吃药 for everyday 'take medicine'; used more in medical or formal contexts.

verb
to take medicationto use medicine (as treatment)

Examples

  • 用药。
    Yī shēng jiàn yì tā měi tiān àn shí yòng yào.
    The doctor advised him to take his medication on time every day.
  • ，。
    Tā yòng le zhè zhǒng yào yí gè yuè, xiào guǒ hěn hǎo.
    He used this medicine for a month, and the effect was very good.
  • 。
    Yī shēng gěi tā yòng le sān zhǒng bù tóng de yào.
    The doctor gave him three different kinds of medicine.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

用yònguse
药yàomedicine

用 means use, 药 means medicine; together they describe using medicine as treatment.

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.

用 was formed by adding a handle to an earlier form.

Open 用 →

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.

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.

Open 药 →

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