癌 (ái): cancer

Meanings

1 cancer
2 carcinoma

Characters

癌

ái

cancer

The character contains 疒 (disease radical) and 嵒 (phonetic component).

Examples

HSK 5

早期发现癌症很重要。

Zǎoqī fāxiàn áizhèng hěn zhòngyào.

Early detection of cancer is very important.

HSK 7-9

他被诊断出患了肺癌。

Tā bèi zhěnduàn chū huàn le fèi'ái.

He was diagnosed with lung cancer.

Tips

usage

癌 alone means 'cancer' but is usually combined: 肺癌 (lung cancer), 胃癌 (stomach cancer), 癌症 (cancer as a disease).

mistakes

The character 癌 is pronounced ái (2nd tone), not yán. It looks similar to 炎 (inflammation) but the pronunciation is different.

Components

radical

疒 nè

sickness; disease

疒 is the indexing sickness radical, a stylised bed propped up - a person bedridden under a roof. It marks 癌 firmly in the disease family alongside 病 (illness), 疼 (sore), 疫 (epidemic), 疯 (mad). The radical signals: this is a clinical term for a body affliction.

phonetic

嵒 yán

rocky crag; stacked stones

嵒 (yán) sits inside as the phonetic - three 口 above 山, picturing piled boulders. Initial preserved, rime drifted with tone shift to second (ái). The stacked-rock imagery suits the meaning: a tumour is a hard, lumpy stony mass - an inner cliff of cells.