About
The character 疠, in its traditional form 癘, is structurally composed of the disease radical 疒 combined with the component 蠆, which originally represented a scorpion or venomous insect, implying a malignant or poisonous ailment. Its earliest meanings were associated with severe, pestilential diseases, often specifically leprosy, as well as malignant sores and epidemics. Over time, while retaining its core association with virulent contagious diseases, its application in medical texts often centered on leprosy, and it also came to be used metaphorically to describe something pernicious or evil. The simplified form 疠 replaced the complex phonetic component 蠆 with 万, a simplification based on phonetic approximation, while the semantic link to illness through the 疒 radical remained.
Etymology Hide
