重症 (zhòng zhèng) — serious illness; critical condition | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Refers to a serious or critical medical condition — a patient in 重症 needs intensive care, unlike ordinary 病人. Common in clinical and news contexts, often seen with 监护室 (ICU).

noun

serious illnesscritical condition

Examples

重症，。
Tā dé le zhòng zhèng, zhèng zài yī yuàn jiē shòu zhì liáo.
He has a serious illness and is receiving treatment at the hospital.
重症。
zhòng zhèng Huàn zhě xū yào èr shí sì xiǎo shí de tè bié hù lǐ.
Critically ill patients need round-the-clock special care.
重症，。
Zhè zhǒng bìng yí dàn fā zhǎn dào zhòng zhèng jiē duàn, jiù hěn nán zhì le.
Once this disease reaches the critical stage, it's very hard to treat.

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.

重zhòngserious

症zhèngillness

重 indicates serious, and 症 is an illness, so the word denotes a serious condition.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

東

東dōng重zhòng

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

重 developed from a picture of a man carrying a bag, with 人 for the man and 東 for the bag; a later ground element was folded into the form.

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

疒正症

Meaning part形符xíngfú

疒疒nèdisease

Sound part声符shēngfú

正

正zhèng症zhèng

Same sound today

The left part 疒 shows it is about disease. The right part 正 is used for the sound.

Appears in

Illness & Symptoms

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