职业病
zhí yè bìng · HSK 7
disease
💼🤒 职业 (occupation) + 病 (illness) = the disease your job gives you
职业 means occupation or profession (职 = post/duty, 业 = trade), and 病 means illness. Stuck together they name an occupational disease — a sickness caused by the work itself. zhí yè bìng.
业 — top 业 (originally a notched board)
Originally a pictograph of a notched wooden board hung in ancient classrooms or temples to support bells and chimes. The notches inspired meanings of 'work' and 'profession,' as such boards were tools of trade and study. Today it means business, occupation, or undertaking.
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.'