疯牛病 (fēng niú bìng) — mad cow disease

Definition

noun

mad cow disease

Examples

疯牛病。
Zuì jìn guān yú fēng niú bìng de xīn wén yòu duō le qǐ lái.
Recently, news about mad cow disease has increased again.
疯牛病。
Kē xué jiā zhèng zài yán jiū rú hé yù fáng fēng niú bìng.
Scientists are researching how to prevent mad cow disease.
，。
Zhè zhǒng bìng bú shì yóu xì jūn yǐn qǐ de, ér shì yóu yì zhǒng yì cháng dàn bái dǎo zhì de.
This disease is not caused by bacteria, but by an abnormal protein.

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.

疯牛mad cow

疯fēngmad牛niúcow

偏正Modifier + head

病bìngdisease

疯牛病 names a disease of mad cows, combining 疯 for abnormal behavior, 牛 for cow, and 病 for 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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 瘋; 疯 is its simplified writing.

疒風瘋

Meaning part形符xíngfú

疒Written in full as病bìng

Sound part声符shēngfú

風

風fēng瘋fēng

Same sound today

The traditional form 瘋 pairs 疒 (illness) with 風 as a sound part; the simplified 疯 is a later shorthand, so its right side is not a historical sound part.

Open 疯 →

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

牛 is drawn as a bull's head, with two horns and two ears.

Open 牛 →

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

疒丙病

Meaning part形符xíngfú

疒疒nèsickness

Sound part声符shēngfú

丙

丙bǐng病bìng

Same sound today