疯病 (fēng bìng) — insanity; mental illness; derangement

Definition

noun

insanitymental illnessderangement

Examples

疯病，。
Tā dé le fēng bìng, xū yào cháng qī zhì liáo.
He has a mental illness and needs long-term treatment.
，疯病。
Zài gǔ dài, rén men cháng bǎ fēng bìng kàn zuò bú zhì zhī zhèng.
In ancient times, people often regarded mental illness as an incurable disease.
疯病。
Zhè zhǒng fēng bìng de zhèng zhuàng bāo kuò huàn jué hé qíng xù shī kòng.
The symptoms of this mental illness include hallucinations and emotional dyscontrol.

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fēngmad

病bìngillness

The meaning comes from 疯 specifying the kind of 病, an illness of madness.

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 →

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

病 pairs 疒, a sickness mark, with 丙, which gives the sound; 丙 also means fire, giving a picture of lying feverishly in bed.

Open 病 →

Appears in