How to Write 疖 (jiē) — Meaning “Pimple; small boil”

Imagine a painful boil appearing on a finger joint (节), and the left radical 疒 looks like a sickbed for that joint. This picture connects the sound "jie" and the meaning of a small skin lump. The memory trick is: a joint with a boil needs a sickbed.

Write the left radical 疒 first: start with a dot, then a left-falling stroke, a horizontal line with a short hook, and two dots inside. Then add the right part 节: write the top horizontal, then the vertical, the bottom horizontal, and finally the dot. A common mistake is making the right side too wide—keep it balanced.

疒 is just the illness radical and is not a complete character by itself, so it never appears alone. 疔 (dīng) means a deep, serious boil or carbuncle, while 疖 is a common, smaller pimple. Visually, 疔 has 丁 (a nail shape) on the right, but 疖 has 节 (a joint).

疖 is used in everyday language to talk about skin problems, especially in phrases like 疖子 (a pimple or boil) or 疖肿 (a swollen boil). In modern Chinese, people might say "我脸上长了个疖子" (I have a pimple on my face). It is a neutral, medical term but can also appear in casual conversation about skin issues.

Common words containing 疖 include: 疖子 (jiē zi) — Pimple; boil; 疖肿 (jiē zhǒng) — Furuncle; boil; 汗疖 (hàn jiē) — sweat boil.