病灶 (bìng zào) — (medical) lesion, focus (of infection)

Definition

A medical term for the physical site of a disease in the body — the 'focus' or lesion where infection or pathology is located. Used in clinical and pathology contexts, not casual speech.

noun
(medical) lesionfocus (of infection)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 病灶。
    Yī shēng fā xiàn tā de fèi yè shàng yǒu yí gè bìng zào.
    The doctor found a lesion on his lung lobe.
  • 病灶。
    Zhè ge bìng zào xū yào jìn yí bù jiǎn chá cái néng què dìng xìng zhì.
    This lesion needs further examination to determine its nature.
  • ，病灶。
    Jīng guò shǒu shù, bìng rén tǐ nèi de bìng zào bèi chéng gōng qiē chú le.
    After surgery, the lesion inside the patient was successfully removed.

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
灶zàofocus

病 and 灶 combine to name a localized focus where illness appears.

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.

灶 combines 火 (fire) and 土 (soil), showing a fire built on the earth as a stove.

Open 灶 →

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