出毛病
chū máo bìng · HSK 7
to break down
🔧⚠️ CHU MAO BING = out + hair + illness — fur standing on end signals trouble
When something goes wrong, hairs rise like warning flags. 出 (out) + 毛 (hair/fur) + 病 (illness) = a fault surfaces, a breakdown appears. The fur-raising is the moment a hidden defect announces itself.
出 — foot 止 emerging from enclosure 凵
出 is a pictograph showing a foot or plant stepping out of a hollow or enclosure, depicting the act of going forth. The original sense of 'coming out' or 'emerging' has remained stable since oracle bone script. It now broadly means 'to exit, go out, or produce.'
毛 — pictograph of hair/fur, 4 strokes
毛 is a pictograph showing a tuft of hair or animal fur, with strands fanning out from a base. The original oracle bone form depicted feathers or fur clearly, and the meaning broadened from 'hair/fur' to include 'wool,' 'down,' and figuratively 'tiny' or 'rough.' It also became a common surname.
病 — sickness radical 疒 + 丙 (bǐng, phonetic)
病 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The radical 疒 depicts a person lying on a bed and signals illness or ailment. The component 丙 supplies the sound (bǐng → bìng). Originally 病 referred to a serious illness, contrasted with 疾 for a lighter ailment; today it broadly means 'sick' or 'disease.'