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霍乱 (huò luàn) — cholera (med.); acute gastroenteritis (Chin. med.)

Definition

Western medical term for cholera, the acute diarrheal infection. In traditional Chinese medicine contexts, the same word refers to acute gastroenteritis with vomiting and diarrhea.

noun
cholera (med.)acute gastroenteritis (Chin. med.)

Examples

  • 霍乱，。
    Xià jì shì huò luàn gāo fā de jì jié, yào zhù yì yǐn shí wèi shēng.
    Summer is a season with high incidence of cholera — pay attention to food hygiene.
  • 霍乱，。
    Zhōng yī rèn wéi huò luàn duō yóu shī xié yǐn qǐ, huì dǎo zhì fù xiè hé ǒu tù.
    Chinese medicine believes that acute gastroenteritis is mostly caused by dampness pathogen, leading to diarrhea and vomiting.
  • 霍乱，。
    Lì shǐ shàng huò luàn céng duō cì zài quán qiú bào fā, zào chéng dà liàng sǐ wáng.
    Historically, cholera has broken out many times around the world, causing massive deaths.

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.

霍huòsudden
乱luàndisorder

霍 'sudden' and 乱 'disorder' together describe the abrupt disturbance of cholera.

Characters in this word

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

霍 is built from 雨 (rain) and 隹 (bird).

Open 霍 →

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 亂; 乱 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
乚Written in full as乙yǐ
Sound part声符shēngfú
𤔔
𤔔𤔔亂luàn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 亂 contains 𤔔, a drawing of combing tangled threads, and 乙; the simplified 乱 is only a later shorthand, not the historical shape.

Open 乱 →
Appears in
Illness & Symptoms

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