医疗护理
yī​liáo​hù​lǐ

healthcare

医 yī medicine Simplified

Original meaning: quiver

Originally depicted a quiver, a container for arrows. Later repurposed to mean "medicine" as a simplified form of the traditional character 醫.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a quiver of arrows.

矢
矢 Iconic component
shǐ arrow

Depicts an arrow.


Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

殹

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangqiːs

說文解字

《說文》：“医，盛弓弩矢器也。从匸，从矢。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

疗 liáo be healed Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 疒 represents the meaning and 了 represents the sound. Simplified form of 療.

Components

疒
疒 Meaning component
nè sick
了
了 Sound component
le, liǎo, liào finish

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

护 hù protect Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 户 represents the sound. Simplified form of 護.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

户
户 Sound component
hù, hu door

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

理 lǐ, li reason

Original meaning: cut jade

Phonosemantic compound. 𤣩 represents the meaning and 里 represents the sound.

Components

𤣩
𤣩 Meaning component
yù jade

𤣩 is a component form of 玉.

Change in meaning
𤣩 hints at the original meaning of 理, "cut jade", which is no longer the most common meaning of 理 in modern Mandarin.
里
里 Sound component
lǐ, li village

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartliXm(ə).rəʔ cut jade; regulate
liXm(ə).rəʔ reason; principle

說文解字

《說文》：“理，治玉也。从玉，里聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

醫 yī medicine Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 酉 represents the meaning and 殹 represents the sound. The 酉 component is a pictograph of a container for wine, which is sometimes used for medicinal purposes.

Components

殹
殹 Sound component
yì an echo
酉
酉 Meaning component
yǒu wine

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangqɯ

說文解字

《說文》：“醫，治病工也。殹，惡姿也，醫之性然。得酒而使。从酉。王育說。一曰殹，病聲。酒，所以治病也。《周禮》有醫酒。古者巫彭初作醫。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

療 liáo be healed Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 疒 represents the meaning and 尞 represents the sound.

Components

疒
疒 Meaning component
nè sick
尞
尞 Sound component
liào, liáo burnt offering

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangrews

說文解字

《說文》：“，治也。从疒，樂聲。療或从尞。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

護 hù protect Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 蒦 represents the sound.

Components

言
言 Meaning component
yán speech
蒦
蒦 Sound component
huò, wò catch, get

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarthuH[ɢ]ʷˤak-s protect

說文解字

《說文》：“護，救視也。从言，蒦聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)