胃病 (wèi bìng) — stomach disease, gastric illness

Definition

noun

stomach diseasegastric illness

胃病。
Tā yīn wèi wèi bìng zhù le sān tiān yī yuàn.
He was hospitalized for three days because of a stomach disease.
胃病。
Cháng qī yǐn shí bù guī lǜ róng yì dé wèi bìng.
Long-term irregular eating habits can easily lead to stomach disease.
，胃病。
Yī shēng jiàn yì tā shǎo chī là, bù rán wèi bìng huì jiā zhòng.
The doctor advised him to eat less spicy food, otherwise his stomach condition would worsen.

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.

"胃" names the stomach, "病" names illness; together they denote a stomach illness.

Characters in this word

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

胃 originally drew a stomach with food inside, first as concentric circles and later with a grain-like mark in the middle.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

疒丙病

Meaning part形符xíngfú

疒疒nèsickness

Sound part声符shēngfú

丙

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.