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传染病 (chuán rǎn bìng) — infectious disease, contagious disease

Definition

A disease that spreads from person to person (or animal to person). Narrower than 疾病 (any illness); 瘟疫 is more literary and refers specifically to large-scale plagues.

noun
infectious diseasecontagious disease
Measure word · 种

Examples

  • 传染病。
    Zhè zhǒng chuán rǎn bìng kě yǐ tōng guò kōng qì hé jiē chù chuán bō.
    This kind of infectious disease can be transmitted through air and contact.
  • 传染病，。
    Wèi le yù fáng chuán rǎn bìng, hěn duō rén jiē zhòng le yì miáo.
    To prevent infectious diseases, many people got vaccinated.
  • 传染病。
    Yī yuàn ān pái le zhuān mén de dì fāng lái gé lí chuán rǎn bìng huàn zhě.
    The hospital set up a special place to quarantine infectious disease patients.

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.

传染spread and infect
传chuánspread染rǎninfect
联合Coordinate
病bìngdisease

The first two parts mean spread and infect, while the last part means disease, so the whole names a disease that can be passed from one host to another.

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 傳; 传 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
人人rénman
Sound part声符shēngfú
專
專zhuān傳chuán
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 傳 puts 人 (man) beside 專, which gives the sound; the simplified 传 is a later shorthand, and its parts are not the historical ones.

Open 传 →

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

染 combines 氵 (water), 九 (hook), and 木 (tree): something hung on a hook from a tree into water to dye it.

Open 染 →

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
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
HSK 3.0 Level 6Illness & Symptoms

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