疫 (yì): epidemic

Meanings

1 epidemic
2 plague
3 pestilence

Characters

疫

yì

epidemic; plague

Examples

古代人们对疫的恐惧根深蒂固。

Gǔdài rénmen duì yì de kǒngjù gēnshēndìgù.

In ancient times people had a deep-seated fear of epidemics.

防疫工作需要全社会共同努力。

Fángyì gōngzuò xūyào quán shèhuì gòngtóng nǔlì.

Epidemic prevention requires the effort of the whole of society.

Tips

usage

疫 is mostly used as a bound form in compounds: 疫情 (epidemic situation), 疫苗 (vaccine), 防疫 (epidemic prevention). It rarely stands alone in modern speech.

Components

radical

疒 nè

sickness radical

Sickness radical wrapping top-left — a person reclining on a bed. Indexes 疫 in the disease family with 病 illness, 疗 to treat, 痛 pain, 疮 sore. 疫 names a sweeping epidemic, so the radical names the category and 殳 specifies the manner — a sickness that strikes like a beating.

phonetic

殳 shū

weapon; bamboo club

Lower-right 殳 — a hand holding a pole-weapon. The phonetic match is loose (shū → yì via Old-Chinese reconstruction), but the semantic flavour fits sharply: a plague is a hand-of-fate striking the population, so 疫 reads as 'illness that beats down.' Same phonetic seen in 役 corvée and 投 to throw.