How to Write 瘿 (yǐng) — Meaning “goiter or gall”

Imagine a baby (婴) who is sick (疒) and has a big, swollen goiter on its neck that looks like a second head. The sound "yǐng" can remind you of "young" — picture a young person with this neck growth. This visual of a sick baby with a lump helps link the components to the meaning.

First write the radical 疒 with its left-falling stroke and two dots inside the frame, then add the right part 婴. The 婴 component must be compact: write the top 贝 (shell) wide, then the middle 女 (woman) narrow, and finish with two short horizontal strokes. A common mistake is making the 女 too tall, which throws off the balance — the whole 婴 should sit neatly under the sick radical's roof.

All three share the illness radical 疒, but the right parts differ. 瘿 (yǐng) means a goiter or tumor-like growth in the neck, while 瘊 (hóu) refers to a wart, a small skin growth, and 瘌 (là) means a skin disease like scabies or leprosy. Visually, 瘿 has 婴 inside, 瘊 has 侯 (like a feudal lord), and 瘌 has 剌 (a thorn or sharp element).

瘿 appears mostly in medical terms, such as 瘿瘤 (goiter or tumor) and 瘿气 (a condition causing goiter), and it is also used in woodworking for 瘿木 (burl wood), which has knotty patterns prized for furniture. In Chinese history, goiter was common in mountainous regions lacking iodine, and the character reflects an old medical understanding. It is not a daily vocabulary word and is rare outside specialized contexts.

Common words containing 瘿 include: 瘿瘤 (yǐng liú) — goiter or tumor-like growth; 瘿木 (yǐng mù) — burl wood or knotty wood; 瘿气 (yǐng qì) — goiter.