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病床 (bìng chuáng) — hospital bed; sickbed

Definition

noun
hospital bedsickbed
Measure word · 张

Examples

  • 病床。
    Yī yuàn xīn mǎi le wǔ shí zhāng bìng chuáng.
    The hospital bought fifty new hospital beds.
  • 病床。
    Tā tǎng zài bìng chuáng shàng xiū xi.
    He is lying on the hospital bed resting.
  • 病床。
    Hù shi zhèng zài zhěng lǐ bìng chuáng.
    The nurse is organizing the hospital beds.

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.

病bìngsick
床chuángbed

病 (sick) and 床 (bed) together refer to a bed for a patient.

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
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 →

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 →
Appears in
Hospital & Clinic

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