How to Write 痈 (yōng) — Meaning “carbuncle; abscess”

Imagine you have a painful red bump on your skin, and you need to "use" (用) medicine to treat it because it is a sickness (疒). The visual is: a sick person (疒) thinking "I need to use (用) treatment for this abscess!" This links the components to the meaning.

When writing 痈, start with the radical 疒 as a wide roof covering the inside part 用. Make sure the dots on the left side of 疒 are placed correctly: two dots. The inner 用 should be centered and not too large; its vertical stroke should align with the middle of the radical above.

痈 (yōng) means a carbuncle or deep abscess, while 疙 (gē) usually appears in 疙瘩 meaning a bump or lump on skin. 疚 (jiù) means guilt or remorse, as in 内疚, not a skin condition. Visually, 痈 has 用 inside, 疙 has 乞, and 疚 has 久, so focus on the different inner parts.

痈 is a medical term for a severe skin infection like a carbuncle, used mostly in formal or clinical contexts. You may see it in words like 痈肿 (abscess swelling) or 痈疽 (deep skin ulcers). It is not common in daily conversation, but learners might encounter it in health articles or traditional Chinese medicine texts.

Common words containing 痈 include: 痈肿 (yōng zhǒng) — swelling; abscess; 痈疽 (yōng jū) — skin ulcer; carbuncle; 发痈 (fā yōng) — to develop a carbuncle or abscess.