疫苗 (yì miáo) — vaccine | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A vaccine — a biological preparation that gives immunity. Contrast with 病毒: 疫苗 is the medicine used for prevention, while 病毒 is the pathogen itself.

noun

vaccine

Measure word · 支

Examples

疫苗。
Yī shēng jiàn yì měi nián qiū tiān dǎ liú gǎn yì miáo.
Doctors recommend getting a flu vaccine every autumn.
疫苗。
Hái zi liù suì shí xū yào jiē zhè zhǒng yì miáo.
Children need to receive this vaccine at age six.
疫苗。
Zhè zhǒng yì miáo de yán fā yòng le shí nián shí jiān.
The development of this vaccine took ten years.

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.

疫yìepidemic

苗miáovaccine

The 苗 vaccine guards against 疫 disease.

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

疒疒nèsickness

Sound part声符shēngfú

役

役yì疫yì

Same sound today

疫 uses 疒 as the sickness marker and 役 to give its sound.

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

艸艸cǎograss
田田tiánfield

It is made from 艸 (grass) and 田 (field), showing plants in a field, which matches the meaning of a young plant or seedling.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 Medicine & Treatment

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