病史 (bìng shǐ) — medical history

Definition

noun
medical history
Measure word ·

Examples

  • 病史
    Yī shēng zǐ xì xún wèn le bìng rén de bìng shǐ.
    The doctor carefully asked about the patient's medical history.
  • 病史
    Nǐ yǒu bìng shǐ guò mǐn ma?
    Do you have a medical history of allergies?
  • 病史
    Zuò shǒu shù qián bì xū tí gōng wán zhěng de bìng shǐ.
    Before surgery you must provide a complete medical history.

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.

bìngillness
shǐhistory

病 and 史 combine to mean a record of illness.

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
sickness
Sound part声符shēngfú
bǐngbìng
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 →

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

The old drawing showed someone holding a flag-like or writing tool, indicating the act of recording events; the exact inner shape is unclear.

Open 史 →

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