疗 (liáo): to treat

疗 (liáo) is a Chinese character meaning “to treat.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 疒 (structural) and 了 (structural). It ranks #949 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 疗 to clear 了 an illness 疒; 了 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 疒 (illness) appears in many related characters such as 医 (yī, medicine), 病 (bìng, illness), 疼 (téng, ache).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to treat

Etymology & Origin

疗

ideographicTo clear 了 an illness 疒; 了 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿸疒了 (layout: surround-from-upper-left)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Practice writing 疗 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 疗

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
治疗verbzhì liáoto treat (an illness)5
医疗verbyī liáomedical treatment5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
疗法nounliáo fǎtherapy
化疗nounhuà liáochemotherapy
疗程nounliáo chéngcourse of treatment
疗养院nounliáo yǎng yuànsanatorium
理疗nounlǐ liáophysiotherapy
疗养verbliáo yǎngto get well
放疗nounfàng liáoradiotherapy (abbr. for 放射療法|放射疗法)
医疗费yī liáo fèimedical expenses
水疗nounshuǐ liáohydrotherapy
诊疗verbzhěn liáodiagnosis and treatment
疗效nounliáo xiàohealing efficacy
电疗noundiàn liáoelectrotherapy
物理疗法nounwù lǐ liáo fǎphysiotherapy
食疗nounshí liáo(TCM) food therapy
自然疗法nounzì rán liáo fǎnatural therapy
68
Total compounds
12
As first character
46
As last character
43
As middle character

疗 appears in 68 compound words: 12 as the first character, 46 as the last, and 43 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 疗 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

医yī
0.66538,929 co-occurrences
治zhì
0.64545,633 co-occurrences
垂chuí
0.61859 co-occurrences
斑bān
0.61152 co-occurrences
彻chè
0.55159 co-occurrences
养yǎng
0.5264,252 co-occurrences
药yào
0.4632,502 co-occurrences
诊zhěn
0.4612,128 co-occurrences
宫gōng
0.45770 co-occurrences
肌jī
0.42134 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (8)

芳香疗法fāngxiāng liáofǎHSK 7+

aromatherapy

noun
割股疗亲gē gǔ liáo qīnHSK 6+

to cut flesh from one's thigh to nourish a sick parent (idiom); filial thigh-cutting

phrase
根管治疗gēnguǎn zhìliáoHSK 5+

endodontic therapy

noun
化学疗法huàxué liáofǎHSK 5+

chemotherapy

noun
化学治疗huàxué zhìliáoHSK 5+

chemotherapy

noun
基因治疗jīyīn zhìliáoHSK 5+

gene therapy

noun
物理治疗wùlǐ zhìliáoHSK 5+

physical therapy; physiotherapy; physio

noun
职能治疗zhínéng zhìliáoHSK 5+

occupational therapy

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这种治疗方法很有效,很多患者都康复了。

Zhè zhǒng zhìliáo fāngfǎ hěn yǒuxiào, hěn duō huànzhě dōu kāngfù le.

This treatment method is very effective; many patients have recovered.

NewsFeb 2026

...政府总理称无意接收特朗普所称派往当地的医疗船

. . . zhèng fǔ zǒng lǐ chèn wú yì jiē shōu tè lǎng pǔ suǒ chèn pài wǎng dāng dì de yī liáo chuán

The Prime Minister stated that the government has no intention of accepting the medical ship that President Trump claimed to have dispatched to the region.

NewsFeb 2026

预防干眼症、黄斑部病变:食疗与四招护眼操

yù fáng gān yǎn zhèng huáng bān bù bìng biàn shí liáo yǔ sì zhāo hù yǎn cāo

Preventing Dry Eye Syndrome and Macular Degeneration: Dietary Therapy and Four Eye-Protecting Exercises

NewsFeb 2026

黄榕外貌有变否认做医美疗程 开心被网民指跟阿仪越来越似 黄夏蕙等...

huáng 榕 wài mào yǒu biàn fǒu rèn zuò yī měi liáo chéng kāi xīn bèi wǎng mín zhǐ gēn ā yí yuè lái yuè sì huáng xià 蕙 děng . . .

Huang Rong denies undergoing cosmetic procedures despite noticeable appearance changes, delighted by netizens' comments that she resembles Ah Yi more and more. Huang Xiaohui and others...

NewsFeb 2026

牙痛要注意!日本研究:长者“蛀牙不治疗”死亡风险增1.7倍

yá tòng yāo zhù yì ! rì běn yán jiū cháng zhě 蛀 yá bù zhì liáo sǐ wáng fēng xiǎn zēng . bèi

Beware of toothaches! Japanese study: Seniors who leave cavities untreated face 1.7 times higher risk of death

NewsFeb 2026

还在觊觎格陵兰?特朗普宣布派遣医疗船赴当地“协助很多病人”

hái zài 觊 觎 gé líng lán ? tè lǎng pǔ xuān bù pài qiǎn yī liáo chuán fù dāng dì xié zhù hěn duō bìng rén

Still coveting Greenland? Trump announces dispatch of hospital ship to "assist many patients" there.

Tatoeba

很多癌症患者都因为化疗而脱发。

Hěn duō áizhèng huànzhě dōu yīnwèi huàliáo ér tuōfà.

Many cancer patients lose their hair because of the chemotherapy.

Tatoeba

什么是格式塔疗法?

Shénme shì Géshìtǎ liáofǎ?

What is Gestalt Therapy?

Tatoeba

汤姆有医疗保险吗?

Tāngmǔ yǒu yīliáobǎoxiǎn ma?

Does Tom have health insurance?

Tatoeba

预防措施比真正的治疗更有效。

Yùfáng cuòshī bǐ zhēnzhèng de zhìliáo gèng yǒuxiào.

Preventive measures are much more effective than the actual treatment.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced liáo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 疗 (liáo) mean in Chinese?
疗 (liáo) primarily means "to treat." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #949 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 疗 have?
疗 is written with 7 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 疗?
The radical associated with 疗 is 疒 (illness). This radical appears in many characters related to illness.
What are the components of 疗?
疗 is composed of: 疒 (structural), 了 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿸疒了 with a surround-from-upper-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 疗?
Common words with 疗 include: 治疗 (zhì liáo, "to treat (an illness)"); 医疗 (yī liáo, "medical treatment"); 疗法 (liáo fǎ, "therapy"); 化疗 (huà liáo, "chemotherapy"); 疗程 (liáo chéng, "course of treatment"). There are over 68 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 疗 (liáo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation liáo: 料 (material), 聊 (chat), 僚 (bureaucrat), 辽 (short name for Liaoning 遼寧|辽宁 province), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 疗 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 疗 and the traditional form is 療.

Practice writing 疗 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.