止咳

• Pinyin: zhǐ ké
• Hanzi breakdown: 止 = stop; 咳 = 口 + 亥 (mouth + phonetic — coughing sound)

Meaning

To relieve coughing; cough-suppressing. The action or property of stopping or reducing coughs.

A medical term appearing on medicines and in health contexts. 止咳糖浆 (cough syrup), 止咳药 (cough medicine), 润肺止咳 (moisten lungs and relieve cough). Often paired with 化痰 (expectorant) in traditional Chinese medicine.

Examples

1. 这款止咳糖浆对治疗感冒引起的咳嗽效果显著。 This cough syrup is highly effective for treating coughs caused by the common cold.
2. 中医推荐用枇杷膏润肺止咳，副作用小。 Traditional Chinese medicine recommends loquat paste to moisturize the lungs and relieve coughing, with few side effects.
3. 持续咳嗽一周后，他终于去药店买了止咳药。 After coughing for a week straight, he finally went to the pharmacy to buy cough medicine.

Usage Guide

Context: medicine, health, pharmacy

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 请问有什么止咳效果好的药推荐吗？(Could you recommend any medicine with good cough-relieving effects?)
• 蜂蜜柠檬水有一定的止咳作用，可以试试。(Honey lemon water has some cough-relieving effect — you can try it.)

Don't Say

• 我止咳了 — grammatically awkward; use 咳嗽止住了 or 不咳嗽了 for having stopped coughing

Origin & History

止 (stop/relieve) + 咳 (cough)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal