霍乱

• Pinyin: huò luàn
• Hanzi breakdown: 霍 = 雨 + 隹 (rain + short-tailed bird, meaning swift/sudden as a bird's darting movement); 乱 = 爪 + 乙 + 又 (tangled hands trying to sort silk threads, disorder/chaos)

Meaning

Cholera; a severe, potentially fatal infectious disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, characterised by profuse watery diarrhoea and dehydration.

霍乱 is the standard Chinese medical term for cholera. Historically, it was associated with devastating epidemics that swept through Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The name literally means 'sudden chaos/disorder' — a reference to the sudden and violent onset of symptoms. Modern usage is primarily medical and historical. The WHO considers cholera an indicator of poverty and inadequate water sanitation. 防治霍乱 (prevention and control of cholera) remains a public health priority in many developing regions.

Examples

1. 十九世纪霍乱多次席卷全球，从印度蔓延到欧美，夺走数百万生命，也促使各国反思城市卫生设施不足。 In the nineteenth century, cholera swept the globe multiple times, spreading from India to Europe and the United States, killing millions and prompting countries to reconsider inadequate urban sanitation.
2. 流行病学调查显示，此次霍乱疫情的暴发与当地饮用水源遭受污染密切相关，卫生部门已紧急启动应急净水措施并向居民发放口服补液盐。 Epidemiological investigations show that this cholera outbreak is closely linked to contaminated drinking water sources. Health authorities have urgently launched emergency water purification measures and distributed oral rehydration salts to residents.
3. 世界卫生组织指出，改善饮用水卫生条件与推广基础卫生设施是从根本上消除霍乱威胁、保障贫困地区民众健康权利的最有效途径。 The World Health Organization notes that improving drinking-water safety and expanding basic sanitation are the most effective ways to eliminate the cholera threat at its root and protect the health of people in impoverished areas.

Usage Guide

Context: medicine, public health, history, epidemiology

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 在没有抗生素的年代，霍乱病死率极高，医生只能补液补盐；许多患者仍因脱水而在数小时内死亡。(Before antibiotics, cholera had an extremely high death rate, and doctors could only give fluids and electrolytes; many patients still died within hours from dehydration.)
• 全球霍乱防控的难点在于，病例多集中在缺少安全饮水和卫生设施的贫困地区，仅靠治疗难以切断传播链。(The difficulty of global cholera control is that many cases are concentrated in poor areas lacking safe drinking water and sanitation, so treatment alone cannot easily break the chain of transmission.)

Don't Say

• 霍乱 for general gastrointestinal illness — use 肠胃炎 for gastroenteritis or 食物中毒 for food poisoning; 霍乱 specifically refers to the infectious disease caused by Vibrio cholerae

Origin & History

霍 (sudden/rapid) + 乱 (chaos/disorder) — the name vividly describes the disease's sudden, violent onset causing bodily chaos; a classical Chinese medical term predating the bacteriological identification of the pathogen

Cultural Context

Era: 19th Century to Modern

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal