退烧药 (tuì shāo yào) — fever-reducing medicine; antipyretic

Definition

noun
fever-reducing medicineantipyretic

Examples

  • ，退烧药。
    Wǒ gǎn mào le, xū yào chī tuì shāo yào.
    I have a cold and need to take fever-reducing medicine.
  • 退烧药，。
    Zhè zhǒng tuì shāo yào xiào guǒ hěn hǎo, hěn kuài jiù tuì shāo le.
    This kind of antipyretic works well; the fever went down quickly.
  • 退烧药，。
    Yī shēng gěi wǒ kāi le tuì shāo yào, ràng wǒ měi tiān chī sān cì.
    The doctor prescribed me fever-reducing medicine and told me to take it three times a day.

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.

退烧reduce fever
退tuìreduce烧shāofever
动宾Verb + object
药yàomedicine

退烧 (“reduce fever”) plus 药 (“medicine”) gives a medicine for reducing fever.

Characters in this word

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

  • 皀皀jífood vessel
  • 夊夊suīdownward foot

退 originally showed 皀, a food vessel, with 夊, a downward foot, for leaving the table after eating. In modern 退, the vessel part 皀 changed into an unrelated shape.

Open 退 →

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 燒; 烧 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
火火huǒfire
Sound part声符shēngfú
堯
堯yáo燒shāo
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 燒 pairs 火 (fire) with 堯, which supplies the sound; the simplified 烧 is a shorthand.

Open 烧 →

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 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.