损伤

• Pinyin: sǔn shāng
• Hanzi breakdown: 损 = 扌+ 员; 伤 = 亻(person) + 𠂉 + 力 (phonetic)

Meaning

To injure; to damage; injury or harm. Often refers to bodily or structural damage.

Can function as both verb and noun. Commonly used in medical contexts for physical injury and in technical contexts for structural damage. More formal than 伤害 and often appears in diagnoses or accident reports.

Examples

1. 长期低头看手机容易造成颈椎损伤，年轻人要特别注意。 Looking down at your phone for long periods can cause cervical spine damage — young people should be especially careful.
2. 这次事故中，桥梁的主体结构并未受到明显损伤。 In this accident, the bridge's main structure did not sustain any obvious damage.
3. 医生说软组织损伤需要静养两周才能恢复。 The doctor said the soft tissue injury requires two weeks of rest to recover.

Usage Guide

Context: medical, technical, news

Tone: clinical

Do Say

• 运动前要热身，避免肌肉损伤。(Warm up before exercise to avoid muscle injury.)
• 这种损伤是可逆的。(This type of damage is reversible.)

Don't Say

• 把小擦伤说成'损伤' (For minor scrapes, 损伤 sounds overly clinical — use 擦伤 or 小伤 instead)

Origin & History

损 means to diminish or harm, and 伤 means wound or injury. Together they refer to damage or injury.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal