症 (zhèng): symptom

症 (zhèng) is a Chinese character meaning “symptom.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 疒 (semantic) and 正 (phonetic). It ranks #1250 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 症 sickness. 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. symptom

Etymology & Origin

症

pictophoneticsickness

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

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 症

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
症状nounzhèng zhuàngsymptom (of an illness)6
炎症nounyán zhènginflammation6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
癌症nounái zhèngcancer
综合症nounzōng hé zhèngsyndrome
恐惧症nounkǒng jù zhèngphobia
强迫症nounqiǎng pò zhèngobsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
病症nounbìng zhèngdisease
并发症nounbìng fā zhèngcomplications (undesired side-effect of medical procedure)
重症nounzhòng zhèngacute (of medical condition)
抑郁症nounyì yù zhèngclinical depression
绝症nounjué zhèngincurable disease
后遗症nounhòu yí zhèng(medicine) sequelae
厌食症nounyàn shí zhènganorexia
急症nounjí zhèngacute disease
症结nounzhēng jiéhard lump in the abdomen (in Chinese medicine)
败血症nounbài xuè zhèngsepticaemia
症候nounzhèng hòuillness
100
Total compounds
4
As first character
95
As last character
1
As middle character

症 appears in 100 compound words: 4 as the first character, 95 as the last, and 1 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 症 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

癌ái
0.67923,595 co-occurrences
状zhuàng
0.67139,396 co-occurrences
染rǎn
0.66426,094 co-occurrences
冻dòng
0.62261 co-occurrences
渐jiàn
0.61358 co-occurrences
无wú
0.57525,260 co-occurrences
感gǎn
0.57526,426 co-occurrences
抑yì
0.5032,858 co-occurrences
郁yù
0.5022,078 co-occurrences
患huàn
0.4978,460 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

不治之症bùzhìzhīzhèngHSK 6+

incurable disease

phrase
疑难杂症yínán zázhèngHSK 6+

intractable diseases; obscure diseases; intractable problems

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这种症状持续了一个星期,建议去医院检查一下。

Zhè zhǒng zhèngzhuàng chíxù le yí gè xīngqī, jiànyì qù yīyuàn jiǎnchá yíxià.

These symptoms have persisted for a week; it's recommended to go to the hospital for a check-up.

StheadlineFeb 2026

睇急症怕贵点拣好?2026年全港13间私家医院...

睇 jí zhèng pà guì diǎn jiǎn hǎo ? 2 0 2 6 nián quán gǎng 1 3 jiān sī jiā yī yuàn . . .

How to choose if you are afraid of being expensive? In 2026, there will be 13 private hospitals in Hong Kong...

99 健康网Feb 2026

...面窄到一根手指都疼是怎么回事?会不会是炎症刺激所致

. . . miàn zhǎi dào yī gēn shǒu zhǐ dōu téng shì zěn má huí shì ? huì bù huì shì yán zhèng cì jī suǒ zhì

... What's going on with the face so narrow that a finger hurts? Could it be caused by inflammatory stimulation?

WorldjournalFeb 2026

搭完邮轮有“离船症候群”?30-60岁女性最常见

dā wán yóu lún yǒu lí chuán zhèng hòu qún ? 3 0 6 0 suì nǚ xìng zuì cháng jiàn

After a cruise, "disembarkation syndrome" is most common among women aged 30-60

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 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

Prevent dry eye syndrome and macular degeneration: diet therapy and four-way eye care exercises

百度新闻Feb 2026

80天生死坚守:湘雅二医院重症医学科“5170”的..

tiān shēng sǐ jiān shǒu 湘 yǎ èr yī yuàn chóng zhèng yī xué kē de . .

80 days of life and death: Xiangya No.2 Hospital's "5170" C...

Tatoeba

这种症状在我身上将会持续多久?

Zhèzhǒng zhēng zhuàng zài wǒ shēnshang jiānghuì chíxù duōjiǔ?

For how long will I continue to have these symptoms?

Tatoeba

你有深海恐惧症吗?

Nǐ yǒu shēnhǎi kǒngjùzhèng ma?

Do you have deep sea phobia?

Tatoeba

你有新冠病毒的症状吗?

Nǐ yǒu xīnguānbìngdú de zhèngzhuàng ma?

Do you have coronavirus symptoms?

Tatoeba

他儿子小时候就死于癌症了。

Tā érzi xiǎoshíhou jiù sǐ yú áizhèng le.

His son died from cancer at a young age.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 疒 (sickness) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhèng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 症 (zhèng) mean in Chinese?
症 (zhèng) primarily means "symptom." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1250 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 症 have?
症 is written with 10 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 症?
The radical associated with 症 is 疒 (illness). This radical appears in many characters related to illness.
What are the components of 症?
症 is composed of: 疒 (semantic), 正 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿸疒正 with a surround-from-upper-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 症?
Common words with 症 include: 癌症 (ái zhèng, "cancer"); 症状 (zhèng zhuàng, "symptom (of an illness)"); 综合症 (zōng hé zhèng, "syndrome"); 恐惧症 (kǒng jù zhèng, "phobia"); 强迫症 (qiǎng pò zhèng, "obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 症 (zhèng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhèng: 政 (political), 整 ((bound form) whole), 征 (journey), 正 (straight), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 症 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 症 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 症 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.