疾病

• Pinyin: jí bìng
• Hanzi breakdown: 疾 = 疒 (sickness) + 矢 (arrow), rapid illness; 病 = 疒 (sickness) + 丙, illness

Meaning

Disease; illness; medical condition.

A formal term for disease or illness, used in medical, scientific, and official contexts. More formal than 病. Often used in compound phrases like 疾病预防 (disease prevention) and 传染性疾病 (infectious disease).

Examples

1. 随着医学进步，许多曾经无法治愈的疾病现在都有了有效的治疗方法。 With medical advances, many diseases that were once incurable now have effective treatments.
2. 健康的生活方式可以大大降低患心血管疾病的风险。 A healthy lifestyle can greatly reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
3. 这种罕见疾病的发病率只有百万分之一，目前仍缺乏特效药。 This rare disease has an incidence rate of only one in a million, and there is still no specific medication.

Usage Guide

Context: medical, scientific, public health

Tone: clinical

Do Say

• 预防疾病比治疗更重要。(Preventing disease is more important than treating it.)
• 他被确诊患有慢性疾病。(He was diagnosed with a chronic disease.)

Don't Say

• 日常口语说'我有疾病' (Too formal — just say 我病了 or 我生病了 for casual conversation)

Origin & History

Compound of 疾 (ailment/rapid) + 病 (illness). Both characters relate to illness, creating an emphatic formal term.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal