病床

• Pinyin: bìng chuáng
• Hanzi breakdown: 病 = 疒 (illness radical) + 丙 (third); 床 = 广 (shelter) + 木 (wood), depicting a wooden sleeping platform

Meaning

Hospital bed; sickbed. The bed used by patients in medical facilities.

Used literally for hospital beds and metaphorically for being hospitalized or seriously ill. 病床数 (number of hospital beds) is an important metric in healthcare discussions.

Examples

1. 疫情高峰期间，医院的病床一度供不应求。 During the pandemic peak, hospital beds were in short supply.
2. 他在病床上躺了半年，终于康复出院了。 He lay in the hospital bed for half a year before finally recovering and being discharged.
3. 这家新建的医院拥有三千张病床，缓解了就医压力。 This newly built hospital has three thousand beds, easing the pressure on medical services.

Usage Guide

Context: medical, healthcare, news

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 病床周转率是衡量医院效率的重要指标。(Hospital bed turnover rate is an important indicator of hospital efficiency.)
• 她每天都去医院陪护病床上的母亲。(She goes to the hospital every day to care for her mother in the hospital bed.)

Don't Say

• 我感冒了，躺在病床上。(For resting at home with a cold, just say 躺在床上 — 病床 specifically means hospital beds)

Origin & History

病 (illness, sick) + 床 (bed). A straightforward compound for a bed for the sick.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal