How to Write 痱 (fèi) — Meaning “prickly heat; heat rash”

Imagine a person (疒) suffering from tiny red bumps that look like two rows of dots — 非 resembles two pairs of small marks on the skin. You can also link the sound fèi to "fever" which often causes sweating and then heat rash.

First write the radical 疒: dot, horizontal left-falling stroke, then vertical, left-falling stroke, and a final dot. Then write 非: start with the left vertical line, then two horizontal and vertical strokes, then repeat for the right side. Common mistake is making the 非 part too wide or too narrow — keep it balanced and centered under the sick radical.

All three share the medical radical 疒, but 痱 specifically means heat rash, while 疵 means a flaw or blemish (like a defect in a product) and 痊 means to recover from illness. Visually, 痱 has 非 (two rows), 疵 has 此 (this), and 痊 has 全 (complete). Their pronunciations and uses are completely different.

痱 is most often used in the word 痱子 (fèi zi), meaning prickly heat or heat rash, especially in hot and humid weather. A common product is 痱子粉 (fèi zǐ fěn), a cooling talcum powder applied to skin to soothe rashes. It is a practical word parents use for babies during summer, but not commonly found in formal HSK vocabulary.

Common words containing 痱 include: 痱子 (fèi zi) — prickly heat; heat rash; 痱子粉 (fèi zǐ fěn) — prickly heat powder; talcum powder; 生痱子 (shēng fèi zi) — to get heat rash.