良药 (liáng yào) — good medicine | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

good medicine

Measure word · 味

良药。
Zhè zhǒng liáng yào duì ké sou hěn yǒu xiào.
This kind of good medicine is very effective for coughing.
良药。
liáng yào Bù yí dìng dōu kǔ kǒu.
Good medicine is not necessarily bitter-tasting.
良药，。
liáng yào Kǔ kǒu, dàn néng zhì bìng.
Good medicine tastes bitter, but it can cure illness.

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.

药yàomedicine

良 means good and 药 means medicine; together they name medicine of good quality.

Characters in this word

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

良 possibly depicts corridors and a room.

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.

艹樂藥

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.

Appears in