How to Write 癜 (diàn) — Meaning “vitiligo; skin spots”

Picture the right side 殿 as a palace hall with spotted floor tiles. Now imagine those spots spreading onto a sick person’s skin—this connects the "hall" image to the skin spots of vitiligo. The 疒 radical reminds you it is a disease.

Start with the 疒 radical: dot, horizontal stroke, left-falling stroke, then an inner dot. Then write 殿, keeping the left side 尸 narrow and the right side 殳 balanced. A common mistake is making the 疒 radical too wide—it should take only about one-third of the total width.

The key difference is the right-side component: 癜 uses 殿, 瘭 uses 票, and 瘰 uses 累. These characters all have the 疒 radical but refer to different diseases: 癜 is vitiligo/purpura, 瘭 is a finger infection, and 瘰 is lymph node swelling. Their pronunciations and specific meanings are also distinct.

癜 appears mainly in medical terms like 白癜风 (bái diàn fēng, vitiligo) and 紫癜 (zǐ diàn, purpura). It is not part of everyday conversation but is important in health contexts. Culturally, vitiligo has sometimes been misunderstood, but awareness and acceptance are growing in China and worldwide.

Common words containing 癜 include: 白癜风 (bái diàn fēng) — vitiligo; 紫癜 (zǐ diàn) — purpura (medical condition); 癜风 (diàn fēng) — vitiligo.