重病 (zhòng bìng) — serious illness, severe disease | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

serious illnesssevere disease

Measure word · 场

Examples

重病。
Yī shēng shuō tā dé de shì yì zhǒng zhòng bìng.
The doctor said he has a serious illness.
，重病。
Jīng guò zhì liáo, tā de zhòng bìng màn màn hǎo le.
After treatment, his serious illness gradually got better.
重病。
Zhè ge yào duì zhì liáo zhòng bìng hěn yǒu bāng zhù.
This medicine is very helpful for treating serious illnesses.

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.

重zhòngserious

病bìngillness

重 means serious, and 病 means illness; together they denote a severe 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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

東

東dōng重zhòng

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

重 developed from a picture of a man carrying a bag, with 人 for the man and 東 for the bag; a later ground element was folded into the form.

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.

Appears in

Illness & Symptoms

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