Meaning of 病毒
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- virus
How to use 病毒
病毒 is used for biological viruses and also for computer viruses. It often appears with verbs like 感染 (gǎnrǎn, to infect) or 传播 (chuánbō, to spread). Example: 这种病毒传播得很快。(Zhè zhǒng bìngdú chuánbō de hěn kuài.) This virus spreads very fast.
病毒 (bìngdú) is literally "sickness poison." Picture a tiny poison 毒 (dú) that gets into your body and makes you sick 病 (bìng).
Common mistake: Learners often write 毒 with 母 (mǔ) at the bottom instead of 毋 (wú). In 毒, the bottom part has one long stroke going straight through the middle, not two dots like in 母. Also keep both tones falling: bìng is 4th tone and dú is 2nd tone.
病毒 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.
病 bìng · illness · 10 strokes
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毒 dú · poison · 9 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 病毒.
| 病人 | bìngrén | sick person; patient |
| 生病 | shēngbìng | to fall ill |
| 看病 | kànbìng | to visit a doctor; to see a patient |
| 毛病 | máobìng | fault; defect |
| 有毒 | yǒu dú | poisonous |
| 中毒 | zhòngdú | to be poisoned |
| 消毒 | xiāodú | to disinfect; to sterilize |
| 杀毒 | shādú | to disinfect; (computing) to destroy a computer virus |
| 毒品 | dúpǐn | drugs; narcotics |
| 疾病 | jíbìng | disease; sickness; ailment |
| 吸毒 | xīdú | to take drugs |
| 心脏病 | xīnzàngbìng | heart disease |
Questions about 病毒
What does 病毒 mean?
病毒 (bìngdú) means "virus" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 病毒?
病毒 is made of 2 characters: 病 (10 strokes), 毒 (9 strokes). That is 19 strokes in total.
Is 病毒 an HSK word?
Yes. 病毒 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do you say computer virus in Chinese?
You can say 电脑病毒 (diànnǎo bìngdú) or 计算机病毒 (jìsuànjī bìngdú). In casual speech, people often just say 病毒 when the context is clear.
What is the difference between 病毒 and 细菌?
病毒 (bìngdú) means virus, and 细菌 (xìjūn) means bacteria. Chinese keeps the two separate, just like English does, so do not use 病毒 for every kind of germ.