合剂 (hé jì) — (medicine) mixture, a liquid preparation of two or more ingredients

Definition

A pharmaceutical liquid mixture made by combining two or more medicinal ingredients. In TCM, 合剂 refers specifically to a prepared liquid dose; the related 复方 means 'compound' (multi-ingredient).

noun
(medicine) mixture, a liquid preparation of two or more ingredients
Easily confused

Examples

  • 合剂。
    Yī shēng gěi wǒ kāi le yì zhǒng zhǐ ké hé jì.
    The doctor prescribed a cough mixture for me.
  • 合剂。
    Zhè zhǒng hé jì xū yào yáo yún hòu fú yòng.
    This mixture needs to be shaken well before taking.
  • 合剂。
    Yào fáng yǒu jǐ zhǒng bù tóng de fù fāng hé jì.
    The pharmacy has several different compound mixtures.

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.

合hécombined
剂jìpreparation

合 (combined) describes the kind of 剂 (preparation).

Characters in this word

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

合 shows 亼 and 口 arranged as two mouths speaking together.

Open 合 →

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 劑; 剂 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
刂Written in full as刀dāo
Sound part声符shēngfú
齊
齊qí劑jì
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In the traditional form 劑, 齊 gives the sound and 刂 (刀, a knife) shows the meaning. The simplified 剂 is a later shorthand.

Open 剂 →

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