How to Write 瘭 (biāo) — Meaning “whitlow or felon (infection of the finger)”

Imagine you have a ticket (票) that you must show at the doctor's office because your sick (疒) finger has a painful infection. The ticket is like a 'sick pass' for your whitlow. This visual link helps you associate 票 with the sound biāo and the meaning of finger infection.

First write the illness radical 疒 with three strokes: dot, horizontal, left-falling stroke, then two dots inside. After that, write the 票 component: start with a vertical stroke (left part of 示), then horizontal strokes for the top, and finally the bottom 示, taking care to keep the overall shape balanced. A common mistake is making the 疒 too small, which makes the character look cramped—the radical should extend slightly left to cover the 票 below.

瘭 (biāo) means a painful finger infection (whitlow), while 瘊 (hóu) means a wart, and 瘌 (là) refers to scabies or a severe skin disease. Visually, 瘭 has 票 (ticket) on the bottom, 瘊 has 侯 (marquis or feudal lord), and 瘌 has 剌 (thorn or sharp). Remember that only 瘭 is used specifically for finger infections.

瘭 is a medical term mostly used in traditional Chinese medicine or in professional medical writing to describe a whitlow, an infection around the fingernail. It is not common in everyday conversation; instead, people might say 甲沟炎 (jiǎgōuyán) for paronychia. Historically, this character appears in classical medical texts, and knowing it can help you read ancient Chinese medical literature.

Common words containing 瘭 include: 瘭疽 (biāo jū) — whitlow or felon; 瘭疽痛 (biāo jū tòng) — pain from a whitlow; 瘭疽病 (biāo jū bìng) — whitlow disease.