病 (bìng) is a Chinese character meaning “illness”. It is written from 疒 (sickness radical (a person lying on a bed)) and 丙 (third of the ten Heavenly Stems; grade C), one enclosing the other, and takes 10 strokes.
Build the character for “illness; sick”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
疒 + 丙
Enclosing structure
- 疒 sickness radical (a person lying on a bed) · nè meaning
- 丙 third of the ten Heavenly Stems; grade C · bǐng sound
Structure from: 现代字形拆分（hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：0-4 疒 / 5-9 丙）
Memory aid
Under the sickness frame 疒 sits 丙 (bǐng). The frame says it is about illness; 丙 lends a close sound — bìng, "sick".
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
10 strokes
In real words
- 生病shēng bìngto fall ill; to get sick病 = bìng
- 病人bìng rénpatient; sick person病 = bìng
- 病毒bìng dúvirus病 = bìng
- 艾滋病ài zī bìngAIDS病 = bìng
- 疾病jí bìngdisease; illness病 = bìng
Go deeper
All readings
illness; sick
illness; disease; to be sick; fault, defect
身体或精神不正常的状态；生病；也指缺点、错误。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 生病shēng bìngto fall ill; to get sick病 = bìng
- 病人bìng rénpatient; sick person病 = bìng
- 病毒bìng dúvirus病 = bìng
- 艾滋病ài zī bìngAIDS病 = bìng
- 疾病jí bìngdisease; illness病 = bìng
Sound component
丙 family tone diff
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 病 mean?
病 (bìng) means illness; disease; to be sick; fault, defect.
How do you pronounce 病?
It is pronounced bìng.
What parts is 病 made of?
疒 (sickness radical (a person lying on a bed)) and 丙 (third of the ten Heavenly Stems; grade C), one enclosing the other. The recorded source is: 现代字形拆分（hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：0-4 疒 / 5-9 丙）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 病 have?
10. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 病?
疒. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 病?
Common ones are 生病, 病人, 病毒. The reading of 病 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.