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卧床不起 (wò chuáng bù qǐ) — bedridden, confined to bed (due to illness or injury)

Definition

A formal set phrase meaning 'bedridden, confined to bed' from serious illness or injury — used in writing or medical contexts rather than casual speech.

verb
bedriddenconfined to bed (due to illness or injury)

Examples

  • 卧床不起。
    Tā shēng bìng hòu yì zhí wò chuáng bù qǐ.
    He has been bedridden ever since he got sick.
  • 卧床不起。
    Nà wèi lǎo rén yǐ jīng wò chuáng bù qǐ sān gè duō yuè le.
    That elderly person has been bedridden for over three months.
  • ，卧床不起。
    Chū le chē huò hòu, tā wò chuáng bù qǐ le hǎo jǐ nián.
    After the car accident, he was bedridden for several years.

Origin

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 臥; 卧 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 臥 pairs 臣 (an eye pointing down) with 人 (a person).

Open 卧 →

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

The 床 shape combines 广, a house, and 木, tree, to show a wooden bed inside a house.

Open 床 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The picture in 不 originally showed a flower’s calyx; the “no” sense came later from a related character, not from this picture.

Open 不 →

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
走走zǒu
Sound part声符shēngfú
巳
巳sì起qǐ
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

起 is made from 走 and 巳: 走 is the part connected with walking or running, and 巳 gives the sound.

Open 起 →
Appears in
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