痨 (láo): tuberculosis

Meanings

1 tuberculosis
2 consumption; wasting disease

Characters

痨

láo

tuberculosis

Examples

HSK 7-9

旧时人们把肺结核叫做痨病。

Jiù shí rénmen bǎ fèijiéhé jiào zuò láo bìng.

In the old days people called tuberculosis 'the wasting disease'.

Tips

register

痨 is the folk name for tuberculosis, mostly seen in older texts and the fixed word 痨病. Modern medicine uses 结核.

Components

radical

疒 nè

sickness; illness radical

The sickness radical 疒, a person on a sickbed, wraps the top and left. It marks 痨 as a disease word, the same family as 病 and 疼.

phonetic

劳 láo

toil; exhaustion

Inside sits 劳 (toil), giving the sound láo with no tone shift. It also hints at the meaning: this was seen as an illness of overwork and exhaustion that wears the body down.

Stroke Order

痨 láo

Related Words

心脏病 xīnzàngbìng HSK 6 #2,748

heart disease / cardiac disease

传染性法氏囊炎 chuánrǎnxìngfǎshìnángyán

infectious bursal disease (IBD); Gumboro disease (viral poultry disease)

传染 chuánrǎn HSK 7-9 #4,982

to infect; to be contagious / to spread (a disease)

患者 huànzhě HSK 6 #4,322

patient (medical) / sufferer (of a disease)

染 rǎn HSK 5 #3,633

to dye; to color / to contaminate; to catch (a disease) / to be tainted by; to acquire (bad habits)

爆发 bàofā HSK 6 #3,465

to break out; to erupt / to burst forth (emotion, conflict, disease)

肺病 fèibìng #23,367

lung disease / pulmonary disease / tuberculosis (historical usage)

疾病 jíbìng HSK 6 #2,746

disease; illness; ailment

性病 xìngbìng #10,588

sexually transmitted disease / venereal disease / STD

白底板病 báidǐbǎnbìng

white-shell disease (of shrimp) / a shrimp disease marked by a whitened underside of the carapace