醫

See also 医

Translingual

Etymology

Phono-semantic compound (形聲): phonetic 殹 + semantic 酉

醫 is both a phono-semantic compound character (形聲), and a compound indicative (會意). As a phono-semantic compound character (形聲), it contains two parts: 殹 (pinyin: yī) and 酉 (pinyin: yǒu). 殹 is the sound component, whereas 酉 (referring to the alcohol used during a medical procedure) helps to convey the meaning of the word. It also works as a compound indicative (會意), because 殹 literally means to groan (original meaning: the sound of being struck by an arrow). 殹 is composed of two parts: 医 (which provides the sound) and 殳 (a weapon, the meaning component). Finally, Shuowen Jiezi defines 医 as 盛弓弩矢器 (literally: a device for holding the arrows of bows and/or crossbows).

Han character

醫 (radical 164 酉+11, 18 strokes, cangjie input 尸水一金田 (SEMCW), four-corner 7760₁, composition ⿱殹酉)

1. cure, heal
2. doctor, medical

References

• KangXi: page 1287, character 13
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 40006
• Dae Jaweon: page 1787, character 13
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 6, page 3595, character 9
• Unihan data for U+91AB
• Notes:

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Cantonese

Hanzi

醫 (simplified 医, Yale yi1)

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Japanese

Kanji

醫

Readings

• On: い (i)
• Kun: いやす (iyasu), くすし (kusushi)

Synonyms

• (medicine): 医

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Korean

Hanja

醫 (hangeul 의, revised ui, McCune-Reischauer ŭi, Yale uy)

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Mandarin

Hanzi

醫 (simplified 医, pinyin yī (yi1), Wade-Giles i¹)

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Vietnamese

Han character

醫 (y)

Compounds

• y học 醫學