50+ Chinese Medical Terms for Surviving Your Doctor’s Visit

Knowing medical terms in Chinese could be just as lifesaving as being able to ask “where’s the bathroom?”

Whether you find yourself in the doctor’s office for a routine checkup or taking an unplanned trip to the hospital, these words will be essential for understanding your caregivers and describing your ailments.

In this post, you’ll learn over 50 Chinese medical terms for booking appointments, describing symptoms and much more.

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Booking Your Appointment in Chinese

Here are a few terms you’ll need when calling in for an appointment:

Chinese	Pinyin	English
预约	yù yuē	appointment
手机号码	shǒu jī hào mǎ	cellphone number
电话号码	diàn huà hào mǎ	telephone number, landline
地址	dì zhǐ	address
电子邮件地址	diàn zǐ yóu jiàn dì zhǐ	email address
出生日期	chū shēng rì qí	date of birth
后天	hòu tiān	day after tomorrow
下周五	xià zhōu wǔ	next Friday
明天早上	míng tiān zǎo shang	tomorrow morning

Knowing how to have a conversation on the phone is necessary when living in China.

While hospitals accept walk-ins, clinics and outpatient departments require appointments scheduled ahead of time via telephone.

Before making that call, you should probably brush up on things like telling time in Chinese and the days of the week.

You can also prep by watching authentic videos on the topic on a program like FluentU.

Now, here are a few examples of what you might say while making the appointment over the phone or at the receptionist’s desk:

我要预约看医生。
(wǒ yào yù yuē kàn yī shēng.)
I want to make an appointment to see the doctor.

医生下周六上午十点有时间吗？
(yī shēng xià zhōu liù shàng wǔ shí diǎn yǒu shí jiān ma?)
Is the doctor available next Saturday at 10 a.m.?

我的手机号码是一七七二零二零二零七七九。
(wǒ de shǒu jī hào mǎ shì yī qī qī èr líng èr líng èr líng qī qī jiǔ.)
My cellphone number is 17720202079.

我的出生日期是一九九零年九月二十二日。
(wǒ de chū shēng rì qí shì yī jiǔ jiǔ líng nián jiǔ yuè èr shí èr rì.)
My date of birth is September 22nd, 1990.

Other than your phone number, receptionists probably won’t ask for contact details until you arrive for your appointment.

Remember to bring your passport. If you’re studying abroad or working in China, it would be a good idea to bring a copy of your Registration of Temporary Residence in case you haven’t memorized your address yet.

Basic Medical Terms in Chinese

To tell someone you’re sick, say “ 我病了 ” (wǒ bìng le). Simple enough, right?

Let’s move on to hospital vocabulary.

You might have learned some of these already in a hospital-themed lesson, and they’re extremely helpful when communicating with locals for the nearest hospital or looking at the street and store signs when searching for the clinic or pharmacy.

Chinese	Pinyin	English
医院	yī yuàn	hospital
急救室	jí jiù shì	emergency room
门诊部	mén zhěn bù	clinic; outpatient department
医生	yī shēng	doctor
护士	hù shì	nurse
病人	bìng rén	patient
药	yào	drugs, medicine
药方	yào fāng	prescription
药店	yào diàn	pharmacy
药剂师	yào jì shī	pharmacist
抗生素	kàng shēng sù	antibiotic
去痛药	qù tòng yào	painkiller
西药	xī yào	Western medicine
中药	zhōng yào	traditional Chinese medicine

Talking About Your Symptoms in Chinese

You’ve finally made it to your appointment and are face-to-face with your doctor. It’s time to explain why you’re here.

Again, it’s not always enough to say, “It hurts.” In addition to knowing body parts in Chinese, you’ll also need to describe your sickness or injury.

Some terms in this list double up as nouns/adjectives and verbs.

So, to say: “I have x symptom,” say 我 (wǒ) + any of the items below.

Chinese	Pinyin	English
发烧	fā shāo	to have a fever/high temperature
受伤	shòu shāng	to be injured
感冒	gǎn mào	to have a cold
头痛	tóu tòng	to have a headache
头晕	tóu yūn	to be dizzy
咳嗽	ké sòu	to have a cough
牙疼	yá téng	to have a toothache
呕吐	ǒu tù	to vomit
流感	liú gǎn	flu
喉咙痛	hóu lóng tòng	sore throat
发冷	fā lěng	chill (the chills)
便秘	biàn mì	constipation, to be constipated
腹泻	fù xiè	diarrhea
皮疹	pí zhěn	rash, measles
过敏症	guò mǐn zhèng	allergy
胃灼热	wèi zhuó rè	heartburn
发痒	fā yǎng	itchy
发炎	fā yán	inflamed
肿	zhǒng	swollen
哮喘病	xiāo chuǎn bìng	asthma
打断	dǎ duàn	fracture, to break a bone
过敏反应	guò mǐn fǎn yìng	allergic reaction

Here are a couple of sentence examples so you can see how to format your own sentences:

我头痛。 (wǒ tóu tòng.) — I have a headache.

我发冷。 (wǒ fā lěng.) — I have the chills.

There are a few irregularities worth mentioning. Some terms can’t be used interchangeably as nouns/adjectives, or seem redundant when translated literally.

To make your life easier, here are a few phrases you can memorize:

我肚子疼。 (wǒ dù zi téng.) — I have a stomach ache.

我鼻子流鼻涕。 (wǒ bí zǐ liú bí tì.) — I have a runny nose.

我鼻子堵了。 (wǒ bí zi dǔ le.) — My nose is blocked/I have a stuffy nose.

Advanced Chinese Medical Terms

After discussing your symptoms, your doctor will take your vitals and possibly order tests if needed.

Even if you don’t know how to use the terminology below in a sentence, knowing the vocab will at least help you figure out what the doctor’s saying and how to read the signs around the hospital in case you need to go to different departments.

Chinese	Pinyin	English
X光	X guāng	X-ray
超声	chāo shēng	ultrasound
磁共振成像	cí gòng zhèn chéng xiàng	Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
电脑断层扫描	diàn nǎo duàn céng sǎo miáo	Computerized Tomography (CT) scan
验血	yàn xuě	blood test
视力检查	shì lì jiǎn chá	vision/eye test
心率	xīn lǜ	heart rate
血压	xuě yā	blood pressure
病理	bìng lǐ	pathology
儿科	ér kē	pediatrics
骨科	gǔ kē	orthopedics
内科	nèi kē	internal medicine
妇产科	fù chǎn kē	Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB-GYN)
临床外科	lín chuáng wài kē	clinical surgery
皮肤科	pí fū kē	dermatology

Why You Should Know Chinese Medical Terms

I’m comfortable talking to Chinese people daily, so I’ve had to accompany my fellow foreign friends to the hospital. It helps to have someone who can communicate your issues effectively.

But that’s not to say I haven’t had my own medical misadventures.

A while back, I had this strange bump on my right eyelid. Being a contact lens wearer, I’ve had my fair share of eye problems, but this bump was entirely new to me.

From calling in for an appointment to giving my contact details and taking my eye test, I didn’t fumble when speaking to my optometrist in Chinese.

It wasn’t until we discussed my symptoms that there was a slight hiccup: I had no idea how to say “itchy.”

Overall, things went smoothly, and I learned something new from the experience: I ended up getting the right treatment and learning that the word for “itchy” in Chinese is 发痒. But things would have been so much easier if I had just told the doctors about my symptoms initially.

Don’t be like me: learn these words before going to the doctor for a smoother visit.

 

You can learn many different phrases to survive day-to-day life in China, but because of the infrequency of hospital and doctor visits, we often find ourselves clueless when we need a checkup.

But if you know the vocabulary and general sentence structures for common Chinese medical terms, hospital visits don’t have to be as intimidating as they seem.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)