How to Write 癃 (lóng) — Meaning “urinary retention or infirmity”

Imagine a sick person (疒) with a swollen, prosperous belly (隆) because they cannot urinate. The 隆 part looks like a big lump, reminding you that the illness involves a blockage causing a feeling of fullness.

Start with the 疒 radical: dot, horizontal stroke, left-falling stroke, dot, then an upward stroke. Then write 隆: first the left ear (阝) with two strokes, then the right part 生 (life) with five strokes. A common mistake is to misplace the dot in 疒 or to write 隆's 生 too wide; keep the left side compact and the right side balanced.

癃 (lóng) means urinary retention, while 瘊 (hóu) means a wart (a skin growth) and 瘌 (là) means a scab or skin disease like leprosy. Visually, their right sides differ: 癃 uses 隆 (prosperous), 瘊 uses 侯 (marquis), and 瘌 uses 剌 (thorn), each giving a unique phonetic and semantic hint to the specific illness.

癃 is mainly used in traditional Chinese medicine to describe urinary retention or difficulty urinating, often in terms like 癃闭 (lóng bì, complete blockage). It is not common in daily speech, where 尿潴留 (niào zhùliú) is preferred, but you may encounter it in medical history or classical texts.

Common words containing 癃 include: 癃闭 (lóng bì) — anuria; inability to urinate; 癃疾 (lóng jí) — urinary retention; 癃症 (lóng zhèng) — urinary difficulty.