bìng
noun HSK 1 #826

Measure Word

chǎng

Meanings

  1. 1 illness; disease
  2. 2 to fall ill

Characters

(illness radical) + phonetic.

Examples

Tā de bìng hǎo le.
He recovered from his illness.
Nǐ yǒu shénme bìng?
What illness do you have?

Tips

memory
has the radical (sickness radical) on the outside, which looks like a person lying on a bed. Many illness-related characters use this radical: (pain), (ache), (symptom).

Components

radical
sickness radical
Sickness radical: a person lying on a tilted sickbed — the long top stroke is the bed, the figure tucked underneath is the patient. Almost every Chinese word for illness, pain, or symptom is built on this radical: , , , , , .
phonetic
bǐng
third heavenly stem (here phonetic)
Provides the sound (bǐng → bìng with tone shift). originally depicted a sacrificial stand and now serves mainly as the third heavenly stem in the traditional cycle. A faint heat resonance — fitting for fever — is sometimes read into it, but the role here is primarily phonetic.

Stroke Order

bìng