郎中 (láng zhōng) — (historical) herbal doctor, folk physician; (historical) secretary-general of a ministry; (colloquial, derogatory) trickster posing as a doctor

Definition

Historical word for a folk herbal doctor (a traditional, non-official physician). Today it survives mainly in classical/literary contexts; the derogatory 'quack' sense is the everyday spoken use.

noun
(historical) herbal doctorfolk physician(historical) secretary-general of a ministry(colloquial, derogatory) trickster posing as a doctor
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 郎中。
    Zhè wèi láng zhōng yòng le jǐ wèi cǎo yào jiù bǎ tā de bìng zhì hǎo le.
    This herbal doctor cured his illness with just a few medicinal herbs.
  • ，郎中。
    Zài táng dài, láng zhōng shì shàng shū shěng de zhòng yào guān yuán.
    In the Tang Dynasty, the langzhong was an important official in the Department of State Affairs.
  • 郎中，。
    Bié xìn nà ge láng zhōng, tā zhī huì piàn qián.
    Don't trust that quack — he only knows how to swindle money.

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.

郎lángofficial
中zhōnginside/central

郎 (official) and 中 (inside/central) name an official serving in the central secretariat, later used for a folk physician.

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
邑邑yìcounty; town
Sound part声符shēngfú
良
良liáng郎láng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

郎 combines 良, which gives the sound, with 邑, meaning county or town.

Open 郎 →

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

The original picture showed a flagpole with a drum in the middle, set up in the center of a field.

Open 中 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.