xiāo dú
disinfect; sterilise
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我必须对伤口进行消毒。
wǒ bì xū duì shāng kǒu jìn xíng xiāo dú.
I must disinfect the wound.
医生用酒精对伤口进行了消毒。
yī shēng yòng jīng jiǔ duì shāng kǒu jìn xíng le xiāo dú.
The doctor disinfected the wound with alcohol.
为了防止感染，我们需要对双手进行消毒。
wèi le fáng zhǐ gǎn rǎn, wǒ men xū yào duì shuāng shǒu jìn xíng xiāo dú.
In order to prevent infection, we need to disinfect our hands.
杀菌 (shājūn)
sterilization
灭菌 (mièjūn)
sterilization
污染 (wuran)
pollute
感染 (ganran)
infect
The Chinese word 消毒 (xiāodú) for "disinfection" is composed of two characters: 消 (xiāo) and 毒 (dú). The character 消 originally meant "to melt" or "to disappear", and in modern Chinese it is often used to refer to the process of eliminating or removing something. The character 毒 originally meant "poison" or "toxin", and in modern Chinese it is often used to refer to harmful or dangerous substances. When combined, the two characters 消毒 (xiāodú) literally mean "to eliminate poison" or "to remove harmful substances", which accurately captures the meaning of the word "disinfection".
