高烧 (gāo shāo) — high fever | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

high fever

Measure word · 场

Examples

，39。
Tā zuó tiān fā gāo shāo le, tǐ wēn dào 39 dù.
He came down with a high fever yesterday, his body temperature reached 39 degrees.
高烧，。
Hái zi gāo shāo yì zhí bú tuì, wǒ men gǎn jǐn sòng yī yuàn le.
The child's high fever wouldn't go away, so we rushed him to the hospital.
高烧，。
gāo shāo Bìng rén xū yào duō hē shuǐ, zhù yì xiū xi.
Patients with high fevers need to drink plenty of water and rest.

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.

高烧 pairs 高 (high) with 烧 (fever) to mean a very high fever.

Characters in this word

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

高 was drawn as a tall building.

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 燒; 烧 is its simplified writing.

火堯燒

Meaning part形符xíngfú

火火huǒfire

Sound part声符shēngfú

堯

堯yáo燒shāo

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

The traditional form 燒 pairs 火 (fire) with 堯, which supplies the sound; the simplified 烧 is a shorthand.

Appears in

Illness & Symptoms

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