疽 (jū) · carbuncle, deep-tissue abscess, gangrene (TCM)

Meanings

1 carbuncle
2 deep-tissue abscess
3 gangrene (TCM)

Characters

疽

jū

carbuncle; deep abscess

Examples

HSK 5

他背上长了一个疽，需要及时治疗。

Tā bèishàng zhǎng le yígè jū, xūyào jíshí zhìliáo.

He developed a carbuncle on his back that needed prompt treatment.

HSK 7-9

古代文献中常提到疽这种病症。

Gǔdài wénxiàn zhōng cháng tídào jū zhèzhǒng bìngzhèng.

Carbuncles are frequently mentioned in ancient medical texts.

Tips

usage

疽 is a classical medical term referring to a deep-seated abscess or carbuncle. In traditional Chinese medicine, 痈疽 describes surface versus deep suppurative infections. Rarely used in modern speech outside medical or historical contexts.

Components

radical

疒 nè

sickness (radical)

Sickness radical wraps the upper-left, a pictograph of a person reclining on a sickbed, marks 疽 as a medical condition: a deep festering abscess or carbuncle in TCM terminology. Same radical drives 病 (illness), 痈 (carbuncle's near-pair), 疼 (ache), 癌 (cancer).

phonetic

且 qiě

moreover; and

且 supplies the sound, qiě to jū, through an Old Chinese palatal-onset shift, the same shift that links 且 with 祖 (zǔ), 阻 (zǔ), 组 (zǔ). Visually distinctive: the rectangular grid of 且 makes 疽 easy to distinguish from neighboring disease chars like 疮 and 疚.