TongTong
Sign in

退烧 (tuì shāo) — to reduce a fever; to bring down a fever

Definition

A separable verb meaning to bring a fever down. The verb-object pair often splits (退过烧), and a reduplicated form (退退烧) is common when suggesting someone rest to recover.

verb
to reduce a feverto bring down a fever

Examples

  • 退烧。
    Tā chī le yào yǐ hòu hěn kuài jiù tuì shāo le.
    After taking the medicine, his fever went down quickly.
  • ，。
    Tā gǎn mào sān tiān le, dào xiàn zài hái méi yǒu tuì guò shāo.
    She's had a cold for three days, and still hasn't had her fever go down yet.
  • 退烧。
    Měi tiān zǎo shàng hē yì bēi shuǐ kě yǐ bāng zhù tuì shāo.
    Drinking a glass of water every morning can help reduce a fever.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

退tuìreduce
烧shāofever

退 means to reduce and 烧 means fever, so the word means bringing a fever down.

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 →
Appears in
Illness & SymptomsMedicine & Treatment

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