Medical Vocabulary in Chinese: Body, Symptoms, Doctors

The everyday word for doctor in Chinese is 醫生 (yī shēng). 醫師 (yī shī) is the formal title, the one you see on a licence, a name plate or a clinic sign. In conversation, people say 醫生 and add the surname for a particular doctor: 王醫生 (Wáng yī shēng), Doctor Wang. To say “see a doctor”, use 看醫生 (kàn yī shēng) or 看病 (kàn bìng).

This page is a word list. It gives you the vocabulary for body parts, common symptoms, hospital departments and the counters you walk past in a Taiwan hospital, with pinyin. It does not tell you what any symptom means or what to do about it. For that, see a doctor or pharmacist, and in an emergency in Taiwan call 119 for an ambulance.

Two words that readers often search for are in the first table below: 發炎 (fā yán), inflammation, and 過敏 (guò mǐn), allergy or allergic reaction.

The people and places

Chinese	Pinyin	Meaning and note
醫生	yī shēng	doctor, the everyday word
醫師	yī shī	doctor, formal title
護理師	hù lǐ shī	nurse; the official title in Taiwan
藥師	yào shī	pharmacist
牙醫	yá yī	dentist
中醫	zhōng yī	Chinese medicine; its practitioner
西醫	xī yī	doctor of Western medicine
病人	bìng rén	patient
醫院	yī yuàn	hospital
診所	zhěn suǒ	clinic
藥局	yào jú	pharmacy
急診	jí zhěn	emergency department

A Taiwan detail: the older word 護士 (hù shì) for nurse has been replaced officially by 護理師, and the Ministry of Education dictionary notes this. You will still hear 護士 in casual speech, and it is the usual word on the mainland. On a Taiwan hospital sign or staff badge, expect 護理師.

Two words people ask about: 發炎 and 過敏

發炎 (fā yán) is the word for inflammation. The dictionary defines it as redness, swelling or pain in part or all of the body, caused by infection. In speech it is almost always attached to a body part: 喉嚨發炎 (hóu long fā yán, an inflamed throat), 傷口發炎 (shāng kǒu fā yán, an inflamed wound). The related words 紅 (hóng, red), 腫 (zhǒng, swollen) and 痛 (tòng, painful) appear in the same sentences, and 紅腫 (hóng zhǒng) is the single word for red swelling.

過敏 (guò mǐn) covers allergies and allergic reactions. The pattern for naming the trigger is 對 (duì) plus the thing plus 過敏: 我對花生過敏 (wǒ duì huā shēng guò mǐn), “I am allergic to peanuts”. For a skin reaction, 皮膚過敏 (pí fū guò mǐn).

Both words are worth putting on a flashcard early, because you may need to say them as well as read them.

Body parts

Many of these characters carry the 月 component, on the left or at the bottom (肺, 肝, 腎, 胸, 腰, 腿, 腳, 胃, 背). In these characters it is a variant of 肉 (ròu, flesh), and spotting it tells you “body part” before you know the rest of the character. The radicals guide explains how to use components like this.

Chinese	Pinyin	English
頭	tóu	head
臉	liǎn	face
眼睛	yǎn jīng	eye
耳朵	ěr duo	ear
鼻子	bí zi	nose
嘴巴	zuǐ ba	mouth
牙齒	yá chǐ	teeth
喉嚨	hóu long	throat
脖子	bó zi	neck
肩膀	jiān bǎng	shoulder
胸	xiōng	chest
背	bèi	back
腰	yāo	waist, lower back
肚子	dù zi	belly, abdomen
胃	wèi	stomach
手	shǒu	hand
手指	shǒu zhǐ	finger
腿	tuǐ	leg
膝蓋	xī gài	knee
腳	jiǎo	foot
皮膚	pí fū	skin
心臟	xīn zàng	heart
肺	fèi	lung
肝	gān	liver
腎	shèn	kidney
血	xiě (literary xuè)	blood

Two readings deserve a note. 肚子 has a second reading, dǔ zi, which means the stomach of an animal as food, so for your own belly it is dù zi. And the Ministry of Education dictionary gives xiě as the standard reading of 血, including in 流血 (liú xiě, to bleed), 抽血 (chōu xiě, to draw blood) and 血液 (xiě yè, blood as a fluid), and lists xuè as the literary reading. You will hear both in 血壓 (blood pressure), as xiě yā and as xuè yā, so listen for what the person in front of you says.

Symptom words

The usual way to describe a symptom is a body part plus a verb or adjective, or a short fixed verb phrase. These are vocabulary items, listed with no suggestion of cause or remedy.

Chinese	Pinyin	English
發燒	fā shāo	have a fever
咳嗽	ké sòu	cough
感冒	gǎn mào	a cold
流鼻水	liú bí shuǐ	runny nose
打噴嚏	dǎ pēn tì	sneeze
喉嚨痛	hóu long tòng	sore throat
頭痛	tóu tòng	headache
頭暈	tóu yūn	dizzy
肚子痛	dù zi tòng	stomachache
拉肚子	lā dù zi	have diarrhoea
噁心	ě xin	nauseous
嘔吐	ǒu tù	vomit
痠痛	suān tòng	sore, aching (muscles)
癢	yǎng	itchy
腫	zhǒng	swollen
疲倦	pí juàn	tired, worn out
失眠	shī mián	insomnia
傷口	shāng kǒu	wound
骨折	gǔ zhé	fracture
扭傷	niǔ shāng	sprain

Taiwan and mainland usage differ in a few places. 流鼻水 is the more common Taiwan phrasing for a runny nose. 流鼻涕 (liú bí tì) is standard on the mainland and is also heard in Taiwan. The Ministry of Education lists 頭痛 and 頭疼 as the same word, and 痛 (tòng) and 疼 (téng) are interchangeable in many compounds.

The pattern 我 plus body part plus 痛 gives you most of what you need to name where something hurts: 我肚子痛 (wǒ dù zi tòng), 我頭痛 (wǒ tóu tòng). Add 很 (hěn) to say “very”: 我喉嚨很痛.

Hospital departments as written on the signs

Taiwan hospitals list each clinic by department, and the name always ends in 科 (kē, department, branch of medicine). The department name is what you read on the sign above a waiting area or on the registration screen.

Chinese	Pinyin	Field
內科	nèi kē	internal medicine
外科	wài kē	surgery
家庭醫學科	jiā tíng yī xué kē	family medicine; often shortened to 家醫科
小兒科 / 兒科	xiǎo ér kē / ér kē	paediatrics
婦產科	fù chǎn kē	obstetrics and gynaecology
眼科	yǎn kē	eye
耳鼻喉科	ěr bí hóu kē	ear, nose and throat
皮膚科	pí fū kē	dermatology
骨科	gǔ kē	orthopaedics
牙科	yá kē	dentistry
泌尿科	mì niào kē	urology
精神科	jīng shén kē	psychiatry
復健科	fù jiàn kē	rehabilitation
神經內科	shén jīng nèi kē	neurology
中醫科	zhōng yī kē	Chinese medicine

In 泌尿科, the Ministry of Education dictionary reads 泌 as mì (with bì as an alternative sound), so the department is mì niào kē.

The cluster 耳鼻喉科 is a good example of how the department names are built: 耳 (ear) plus 鼻 (nose) plus 喉 (throat) plus 科. Once you know the part words, you can read department names you have never met.

Words for the process

These appear on counters and screens in a clinic or hospital. The longer story of how a visit works, with phrases to say, is in the guide to Mandarin at the doctor.

Chinese	Pinyin	Meaning
掛號	guà hào	register for an appointment
健保卡	jiàn bǎo kǎ	National Health Insurance card
門診	mén zhěn	outpatient visit
看診	kàn zhěn	the doctor seeing patients
檢查	jiǎn chá	examination, test
抽血	chōu xiě	draw blood
打針	dǎ zhēn	have an injection
疫苗	yì miáo	vaccine
處方	chǔ fāng	prescription
批價	pī jià	pay at the cashier
領藥	lǐng yào	collect medicine
藥	yào	medicine
吃藥	chī yào	take medicine
住院	zhù yuàn	be admitted to hospital
病房	bìng fáng	ward

掛號, 批價 and 領藥 are the three signs you tend to follow in order. Learners on a student visa will meet 健保卡 quickly, and the health insurance guide covers what it is and how you get one.

Learning this list without drowning in it

Around 100 words is too many to take in one sitting, and most of them you only need to recognise. A sensible order:

1. Say first: 醫生, 醫院, 藥局, 痛, 發燒, 過敏, and 我不舒服 (wǒ bù shū fu, I do not feel well).
2. Body parts you can point to. Learn 頭, 肚子, 喉嚨, 手, 腳 before the organs.
3. Read only: the department names and the process words. You will meet them on signs, so recognition is enough.

If you use spaced repetition, put the 疒 radical on your list. It is the sickness component, and it sits inside 病 (bìng), 痛 (tòng), 痠 (suān), 癢 (yǎng), 療 (liáo) and 癒 (yù). Seeing it tells you the character belongs to illness before you read the rest. The site dictionary shows readings if you meet a character you cannot place.

Related reading

• Mandarin at the doctor and pharmacy in Taiwan
• Health insurance for language students in Taiwan
• Dental care for language students in Taiwan
• Learning Chinese radicals