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内科 (nèi kē) — internal medicine (department in a hospital)

Definition

内科 (nèikē) refers to internal medicine — the hospital department for diagnosing and treating adult diseases of internal organs (heart, lungs, etc.), as opposed to surgery.

noun
internal medicine (department in a hospital)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 内科，。
    Wǒ bà ba shì nèi kē yī shēng, zhuān mén kàn xīn zàng hé fèi de wèn tí.
    My dad is an internal medicine doctor, specializing in heart and lung issues.
  • 内科。
    nèi kē De jiǎn chá xiàng mù bāo kuò chōu xiě hé xīn diàn tú.
    The examinations in internal medicine include blood draws and ECGs.
  • ，内科。
    Rú guǒ nǐ yǒu màn xìng bìng, yīng gāi qù nèi kē kàn kàn.
    If you have a chronic disease, you should go see internal medicine.

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.

内nèiinternal
科kēdepartment

内 marks internal and 科 names a department, giving the internal medicine branch.

Characters in this word

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

  • 入入rùto enter
  • 冂冂jiōnghouse

The shape shows 入 entering into 冂, a house, so it pictures bringing something indoors, giving the sense inside.

Open 内 →

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
斗斗dòumeasuring tool
Sound part声符shēngfú
禾
禾hé科kē
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

科 pairs 禾, which gives the hé sound, with 斗, a measuring tool.

Open 科 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6HSK 2.0 Level 5Hospital & Clinic

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