药/藥 yào — medicine, drug

Meanings

1. 1

   medicine, drug

   Medicine. The verb it goes with is 吃 — 吃药 "to take medicine" — even for tablets, and a doctor is the one who 给你药.

   noun

Character breakdown

• 药/藥

  yào (fourth tone, falling)

  medicine, a drug; a herbal remedy; a chemical preparation

  9 strokes⿱艹约Radical 艸

Example sentences

• 你生病了，要吃药。/你生病了，要吃藥。Nǐ (third tone, dipping) shēngbìng (first tone, high and level) le, (neutral tone) yào (fourth tone, falling) chī (first tone, high and level) yào. (fourth tone, falling)···

  You’re ill — you need to take some medicine.

• 这个药一天吃两次。/這個藥一天吃兩次。Zhège (fourth tone, falling) yào (fourth tone, falling) yì (fourth tone, falling) tiān (first tone, high and level) chī (first tone, high and level) liǎng (third tone, dipping) cì. (fourth tone, falling)···

  Take this medicine twice a day.

Common mistakes

• Not quite我要吃一个药。

  Correct我要吃药。

  药 is not counted with 个 in this pattern. Say 吃药 for taking medicine in general; a specific type is counted with 种.

Similar words