How to Write 症 (zhēng/zhèng) — Meaning “disease; illness”

Imagine a person who is usually upright and correct (正) but gets sick, so they lie down under the sickness radical (疒). The sickness "corrects" their posture, turning them into a patient with a disease. This visual helps link the components to the meaning of illness.

Write the sickness radical 疒 first with the dot, then the horizontal left-slanting stroke, then the two short dots inside – do not forget the left-slanting stroke. Then write 正 inside, making sure its horizontal strokes are level and the vertical stroke stays centered. A common mistake is to make the enclosure too narrow or to misplace the dots of 疒.

症 means a disease or illness as a general condition (e.g., 病症 "disease"), while 疙 refers to a small bump or pimple on the skin (e.g., 疙瘩). 疚 describes a feeling of guilt or remorse (e.g., 愧疚). Visually, 症 contains 正, 疙 contains 乞, and 疚 contains 久 – these inner parts are the key to telling them apart.

症 is commonly used in medical and formal contexts to talk about diseases and symptoms, such as 症状 (symptom) and 病症 (disease). It also appears in the word 症结, which means the root cause or crux of a problem. Culturally, 症 carries a serious tone and is not used for minor discomforts like a cold – those use other words like 病 (bìng).

Common words containing 症 include: 病症 (bìng zhèng) — disease; illness; 症状 (zhèng zhuàng) — symptom; 症结 (zhēng jié) — crux; core of the problem.