疼

Etymology & Components

The Chinese character 疼 (téng) is composed of two parts: the radical 疒 (chuáng), which indicates that the character is related to illness or pain, and the phonetic component 登 (dēng). The character 疼 originally meant "to feel pain in the heart", and it has since extended to mean "to feel pain in general".The character 疒 is a pictograph of a person lying in bed, and it is used in many Chinese characters related to illness or pain, such as 病 (bìng, "illness"), 痛 (tòng, "pain"), and 伤 (shāng, "injury"). The character 登 is a pictograph of a person climbing a ladder, and it is used in many Chinese characters related to climbing or ascending, such as 上 (shàng, "up"), 下 (xià, "down"), and 进 (jìn, "to enter").The combination of the radical 疒 and the phonetic component 登 in the character 疼 creates a character that means "to feel pain in the heart". This character is often used to describe physical pain, such as a headache or a stomachache, but it can also be used to describe emotional pain, such as heartache or grief.