急性

• Pinyin: jí xìng
• Hanzi breakdown: 急 = 心 + 及 (heart + reach — hurrying); 性 = 忄+ 生 (heart + birth — inherent nature)

Meaning

Acute; sudden-onset. Describes a condition or disease that develops quickly and is severe in the short term.

Primarily a medical term contrasted with 慢性 (chronic). 急性病 (acute illness), 急性心肌梗死 (acute myocardial infarction), 急性中毒 (acute poisoning). Also used informally to describe an impatient temperament (急性子). The medical use is more common in formal contexts.

Examples

1. 急性阑尾炎发作时腹痛剧烈，需立即就医并在最短时间内接受外科手术治疗，以防穿孔。 When acute appendicitis strikes, the abdominal pain is severe; you need to seek medical care immediately and undergo surgery as soon as possible to prevent perforation.
2. 医院急诊室每天接诊大量急性病患者，医护人员须在极短时间内完成初步诊断并启动治疗流程。 The hospital emergency department sees large numbers of acute patients every day, and staff must make an initial diagnosis and start treatment in a very short time.
3. 他是个急性子，做事风风火火，常常在情况尚未完全明朗之前就迫不及待地做出决策。 He’s impatient by nature and does things at full speed, often making decisions before the situation is fully clear.

Usage Guide

Context: medicine, public health

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 患者被确诊为急性脑梗死后，神经内科团队立即启动绿色通道，在溶栓治疗的黄金时间窗内完成了全部救治程序。(After the patient was diagnosed with acute cerebral infarction, the neurology team immediately activated the fast-track pathway and completed all treatment procedures within the golden time window for thrombolytic therapy.)
• 急性传染病一旦出现聚集性爆发，疾控部门须在二十四小时内完成流行病学调查并向上级卫生主管机构报告。(Once a clustered outbreak of an acute infectious disease occurs, the disease control department must complete an epidemiological investigation and report to the higher-level health authority within twenty-four hours.)

Don't Say

• 急性问题 — use 紧迫的问题 or 突发问题; 急性 is a medical/characterological modifier, not a general synonym for 'urgent'

Origin & History

急 (urgent/rapid) + 性 (nature/characteristic)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal