感冒
gǎnmào · HSK 3
catch cold
🤧🤒 感 = feel + 冒 = emit/come out; feeling something coming out (sneezes)
感 means 'feel/sense' and 冒 means 'emit, give off, come forth'. Together: your body feels something coming out — runny nose, sneezes, fever. So 感冒 = catch a cold.
感 — heart 心 + 咸 (xián, phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The heart radical 心 at the bottom carries the meaning of feeling or emotion, while 咸 supplies the sound. Together 感 conveys being moved in the heart, hence 'to feel,' 'sense,' or 'be affected by' something.
冒 — top 冃 (cloth/cover) + 目 (eye)
Originally a pictograph showing a cloth or cap covering the eyes, suggesting something pulled down over the head. From this came the meaning 'to cover,' then by extension 'to risk' or 'brave through' (as in pushing forward despite obstacles). The top component 冃 is often miswritten as 日, but it depicts a covering, not the sun.
gǎn mào · HSK 3
to catch a cold
🤧 感 = feel + 冒 = emit; literally 'feeling an emission' — the body leaking symptoms
感 means to feel/sense, 冒 means to emit or give off (as in steam rising). Together: the sensation of your body emitting symptoms — sneezes, runny nose, fever. The classic Chinese framing of a cold as something the body is venting out.
感 — heart 心 + 咸 (xián, phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The heart radical 心 at the bottom carries the meaning of feeling or emotion, while 咸 supplies the sound. Together 感 conveys being moved in the heart, hence 'to feel,' 'sense,' or 'be affected by' something.
冒 — top 冃 (cloth/cover) + 目 (eye)
Originally a pictograph showing a cloth or cap covering the eyes, suggesting something pulled down over the head. From this came the meaning 'to cover,' then by extension 'to risk' or 'brave through' (as in pushing forward despite obstacles). The top component 冃 is often miswritten as 日, but it depicts a covering, not the sun.