Chinese

感冒

/kän²¹⁴⁻²¹ mɑʊ̯⁵¹/
cold (common viral illness); common cold
  • HSK 3
  • TOCFL 2

Etymology graph

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  • derived
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  • meaning component
  • sound component
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Origin

Attested since the Song dynasty.

冒 (mào) probably refers to “to emit; to manifest”, with 感冒 literally meaning “affected [by the wind] and [the symptoms have] manifested”.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • characterChinese感 “to move (someone); to affect; to touch; to arouse”
    • soundChinese咸 “all; completely”
    • meaningChinese心 “heart (Classifier: 顆／颗 m; 個／个 c; 粒 mn)”
  • characterChinese冒 “to cover”
    • soundChinese冃 “hat”
    • meaningChinese目 “eye (Classifier: 雙／双 mn-t)”

Sources