Meaning of 医药
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- medical care and medicines
- medicine (drug)
- medical
- pharmaceutical
How to use 医药
医药 is a fairly formal word used for the medical and pharmaceutical field as a whole, often before another noun like 公司 or 费用. Example: 他在一家医药公司工作。(Tā zài yì jiā yīyào gōngsī gōngzuò.) He works at a pharmaceutical company.
医药 is two halves of healing: 医 (yī) is the doctor side, as in 医生 (yīshēng), and 药 (yào) is the medicine side, as in 药店 (yàodiàn). Put the doctor and the drugs together and you get the whole field of medicine.
Common mistake: Learners often use 医药 when they just mean a dose of medicine to take, but for that you say 药 (yào), as in 吃药 (chī yào), not 吃医药. Also keep the tones straight: yī is first tone and yào is fourth tone.
医药 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
医 yī · to cure · 7 strokes
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药 yào · medicine · 9 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 医药.
| 医生 | yīshēng | doctor; medical practitioner |
| 医院 | yīyuàn | hospital |
| 药片 | yàopiàn | a (medicine) pill or tablet |
| 药店 | yàodiàn | pharmacy; drugstore |
| 药水 | yàoshuǐ | medicine in liquid form; bottled medicine |
| 西医 | xīyī | Western medicine; a doctor trained in Western medicine |
| 中医 | zhōngyī | traditional Chinese medical science; a doctor trained in Chinese medicine |
| 药物 | yàowù | medicaments; pharmaceuticals |
| 医疗 | yīliáo | medical treatment |
| 医学 | yīxué | medicine; medical science |
| 中药 | zhōngyào | traditional Chinese medicine |
| 炸药 | zhàyào | explosive; blasting agent; dynamite |
Questions about 医药
What does 医药 mean?
医药 (yīyào) means "medical care and medicines; medicine (drug)" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 医药?
医药 is made of 2 characters: 医 (7 strokes), 药 (9 strokes). That is 16 strokes in total.
Is 医药 an HSK word?
Yes. 医药 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 医药 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 医药 is written 醫藥.
What is the difference between 医药 and 医学?
医学 (yīxué) is medicine as an academic science, the thing you study at medical school. 医药 covers medical care and drugs together, and often points to the industry or to costs, as in 医药费 (yīyào fèi), medical expenses.
Can 医药 be used like an adjective?
Yes, it often sits directly before a noun to mean medical or pharmaceutical, for example 医药行业 (yīyào hángyè), the pharmaceutical industry. You do not need 的 in these set phrases.