How to Write 瘴 (zhàng) — Meaning “miasma”

Imagine a sick person lying in bed (疒) surrounded by a thick, green fog (think of the right side 章 as a "chapter" of bad air). The fog is so dense it looks like a "chapter" of poison, and you can remember that 瘴 means miasma, a harmful mist.

Start with the radical 疒: write the dot, the left stroke, then the top and bottom dots, and the sweeping left stroke. Then write the right side 章: first the top 立 (dot, horizontal, dot, left-falling, horizontal), then the bottom 早 (vertical, horizontal fold, horizontal, horizontal, vertical). A common mistake is making the right side too narrow; keep 章 balanced so the whole character is even.

瘴 (zhàng) means miasma or poisonous vapor, while 瘊 (hóu) means a wart or mole, and 瘌 (là) means scabies or a skin disease. Visually, 瘴 uses the component 章 (chapter) on the right, 瘊 uses 侯 (marquis), and 瘌 uses 剌 (thorn). Their meanings are all illness-related but the specific disease or condition differs.

Today, 瘴 appears mostly in literary or historical texts to describe foul, disease-carrying air, especially in tropical or mountainous regions. It is commonly seen in the word 瘴气 (zhàng qì) for miasma, and in idioms like 瘴雨蛮烟 (zhàng yǔ mán yān) referring to the unhealthy climate of southern lands. It is rarely used in daily conversation but remains part of classical Chinese vocabulary.

Common words containing 瘴 include: 瘴气 (zhàng qì) — miasma or foul air; 瘴疠 (zhàng lì) — miasma or pestilential vapor; 瘴雨 (zhàng yǔ) — rain in a miasmal region.