jí bìng
disease; illness; sickness
这种疾病很容易传染。
Zhè zhǒng jí bìng hěn róng yì chuán rǎn.
This disease is very contagious.
他患了严重的疾病。
Tā huàn le yán zhòng de jí bìng.
He suffered from a serious disease.
这种疾病还没有特效药。
Zhè zhǒng jí bìng hái méi yǒu tè xiào yào.
There is no specific medicine for this disease yet.
病 (bìng)
illness
疾患 (jí chuàn)
disease
健康 (jiàn kāng)
health
康复 (kāng fù)
recovery
The Chinese word 疾病 (jíbìng) for "disease" is composed of two characters: 疾 (jí) and 病 (bìng). The character 疾 originally meant "fast" or "urgent", and was often used to describe the rapid onset of an illness. The character 病, on the other hand, originally meant "suffering" or "pain", and was used to describe the symptoms of an illness. Over time, the two characters came to be used together to refer to diseases in general.The word 疾病 is first recorded in the oracle bone script, which dates back to the Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BC). In the oracle bone script, the character 疾 is depicted as a person running, while the character 病 is depicted as a person lying down in pain. These early depictions of the two characters provide a vivid illustration of the original meanings of the words.The word 疾病 has been used in Chinese for centuries to refer to diseases of all kinds. It is a common word in both spoken and written Chinese, and is understood by all Chinese speakers.
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