Kilo Lingo

(yào) - medicine, drug in Mandarin

yào

Traditional: 藥

Line drawing of 药
Coloured illustration of 药
#1243 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

medicine, drug

Word origin

A phono-semantic compound with the grass radical 艹 on top, since early medicines were herbal, and 约 (yuē) supplying the sound in the simplified form. The traditional 藥 uses 樂 as phonetic.

Origin
phono-semantic compound
Root
艹 (grass) + 约 (yuē, phonetic)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 药

Examples

Remember to take your medicine on time.

This medicine is very bitter.

The doctor prescribed me some medicine.

The pharmacy is right at the corner.

lǎnduò

There is no medicine that cures laziness.

药 (yào) means medicine or drug. The grass radical reflects the herbal origins of traditional remedies.

Where this fits

Add to review queue

Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.

Go to my review queue

Mandarin · Free printables

药: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "药" (medicine, drug): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

Free for members

The printable worksheets, infographics and PDFs are free with an account. Start a free week and download as many as you like.

Start your free week

This word is part of lesson 25.