The word 哮喘病 is formed by combining three characters: 哮, meaning "wheeze", 喘, meaning "pant", and 病, meaning "disease". The characters 哮 and 喘 together describe the key symptoms of wheezing and panting associated with the condition, and 病 is appended to clarify that it is a medical illness, resulting in a term that directly denotes the disease asthma.