病征 (bìng zhēng) — (medical) symptom, sign (of disease)

Definition

noun
(medical) symptomsign (of disease)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 病征。
    Zhè zhǒng bìng de bìng zhēng bāo kuò fā shāo hé ké sou.
    Symptoms of this disease include fever and cough.
  • 病征。
    Yī shēng tōng guò guān chá bìng zhēng lái zhěn duàn bìng qíng.
    Doctors diagnose the condition by observing symptoms.
  • 病征，。
    Zǎo qī bìng zhēng wǎng wǎng bù míng xiǎn, róng yì bèi hū lüè.
    Early symptoms are often not obvious and are easily overlooked.

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bìngdisease
征zhēngsign

病 gives disease and 征 gives sign, so the word means a symptom of disease.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 徵; 征 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 征 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (特征, 象征) it is 徵; in others it is 征.

The story is about the traditional form 徵. It originally meant punishment, from a picture of a knife with tooth-shaped protrusions on its back; later forms kept that sense.

Open 征 →

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