How to Write 疡 (yáng) — Meaning “ulcer”

Imagine a sun (日) shining on a person with a sickness (疒) — the heat makes a small wound worse, turning it into an ulcer. The sun part comes from the top of 昜, which looks like 日 (sun) above 勿 (don't).

The radical 疒 (sickness) has three strokes: a dot, a left-falling stroke, then two dots inside — start with the dot at top left. Inside, 昜 has 8 strokes total; be careful to write the horizontal stroke under 日 before the two horizontal strokes below, and avoid making the bottom part too wide.

疡 (yáng) means a deeper ulcer or abscess that often oozes, while 疔 (dīng) is a hard, painful boil like a nail, and 疖 (jiē) is a small, pus-filled pimple. Visually, 疡 has the complex 昜 inside, whereas 疔 has 丁 (nail) and 疖 has 节 (joint).

疡 is most common in medical terms like 溃疡 (ulcer), especially 口腔溃疡 (mouth ulcer) which many people get from stress or spicy food. It is also used in 脓疡 (abscess) but rarely alone; you will mostly see it in formal or health-related contexts.

Common words containing 疡 include: 溃疡 (kuì yáng) — Ulcer.; 口腔溃疡 (kǒu qiāng kuì yáng) — mouth ulcer; 脓疡 (nóng yáng) — abscess.