肠炎 (cháng yán) — enteritis (inflammation of the intestines)

Definition

noun

enteritis (inflammation of the intestines)

Easily confused

肠炎。
Tā yīn wèi chī le bù gān jìng de dōng xī dé le cháng yán.
He got enteritis because he ate something unclean.
肠炎。
cháng yán Huàn zhě yào zhù yì yǐn shí qīng dàn.
Patients with enteritis should pay attention to a light diet.
肠炎。
Yī shēng shuō tā xū yào zhù yuàn zhì liáo cháng yán.
The doctor said he needs to be hospitalized to treat the enteritis.

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.

炎yáninflammation

肠 means intestine and 炎 means inflammation, so together they point to inflammation of the intestines.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 腸; 肠 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

昜

昜yáng腸cháng

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 腸 pairs 肉, the body, with 昜, which gives the sound; the simplified 肠 is a later shorthand.

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

火火炎

炎 places two 火 (fire) shapes vertically, one above the other, to show fire doubled.