医/醫 yī — medicine, the healing art; to treat, to cure; a doctor

Pinyin

• yī (first tone, high and level)

medicine, the healing art; to treat, to cure; a doctor

Character breakdown

• 匚meaning partno entry yetA case open on one side — here a quiver.
• 矢meaning partno entry yetAn arrow standing in the case. The original 医 was simply "a quiver of arrows"; it became the whole of 醫 when the character was simplified.

Mnemonic

A quiver 匚 with an arrow 矢 in it. That is all 医 ever meant on its own — the healing sense belongs to the traditional 醫, which stacks this quiver and a hand with a weapon over 酉, a wine jar, because alcohol was the ancient physician’s antiseptic and solvent. Simplification kept only the top-left corner. 医生 a doctor, 医院 a hospital, 中医 Chinese medicine.

A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.

Words containing 医

• 医院/醫院yīyuàn (first tone, high and level)hospital
• 医生/醫生yīshēng (first tone, high and level)doctor, physician
• 医疗/醫療yī (first tone, high and level) liáo (second tone, rising)medical treatment
• 医学/醫學yī (first tone, high and level) xué (second tone, rising)medicine
• 医药/醫藥yī (first tone, high and level) yào (fourth tone, falling)medical care and medicines
• 医务/醫務yī (first tone, high and level) wù (fourth tone, falling)medical affairs
• 中医/中醫Zhōng (first tone, high and level) yī (first tone, high and level)traditional Chinese medical science
• 就医/就醫jiù (fourth tone, falling) yī (first tone, high and level)to receive medical treatment
• 西医/西醫xī (first tone, high and level) yī (first tone, high and level)Western medicine
• 求医/求醫qiú (second tone, rising) yī (first tone, high and level)to seek medical treatment