疫苗
yì miáo · HSK 7
vaccine
💉 疫 plague + 苗 sprout = a tiny seedling of the disease grown to train defenses
苗 means sprout or seedling, the same character as in crop seedlings. A 疫苗 is a weakened sprout of a 疫 (epidemic disease) given on purpose so the body learns to fight it. Sound: yì miáo, with miáo rhyming with meow.
苗 — grass radical 艹 + field 田
A pictographic-semantic compound showing young plants (艹) growing in a field (田), originally meaning 'seedling' or 'young sprout.' The meaning later extended to 'descendants' and became a surname, as well as the name for the Miao ethnic group.