瘩 (dá) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

瘩

dá[da2]Tone 2

sore, boil, scab

Multiple Readings (多音字):

Guru Deep Dive

English · sore, boil, scab

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:14

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (disease radical) must be compressed slightly to leave ample room for the right-hand phonetic component 荅, ensuring the whole character does not become unbalanceable.

1. Meaning

sore or skin boil

pimplelumpknot or bump on skin

noun / bound formColloquialBound morpheme#medicine#skin condition#pathology

Sample Usage

疙瘩
gēda
lump, swelling, pimple, or knot
肉疙瘩
ròu gēda
skin tag or flesh lump

2. Sound

/[ta³⁵]/Tone: 35

瘩

dáda2

´(35)

=dá

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "a" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).

Initial Consonant

Type: Unaspirated Alveolar

Sounds like: d sound in English 'dog'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: No puff of air. Tissue remains still (sounds like English 't' in 'stop').

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip pressed against the alveolar ridge behind upper front teeth

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: ah sound in 'father'

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ah'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T2 (35)

3 → 5 (35)

2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 starts in the middle pitch range and climbs sharply to the upper register, matching an incredulous rising English intonation.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the rising Tone 2 (dá) with Tone 4 (dà). Make sure the pitch climbs clearly to the top instead of dropping abruptly.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 2 rises like a questioning upward inflection in English, such as asking 'Huh?' or 'What?'. Sweep your hand upward from left to right.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 14 strokes

4. Components

Radical 疒 · Disease radical (sickness, illness, or bodily afflictions)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 疒 (indicates that this character relates to an affliction, skin sore, or bodily bump.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 荅 (original sound: dá)

The disease radical (疒) on the left pairs with the phonetic component 荅 (dá) on the right to denote a sore or boil on the skin.

疒 illness or disease radical
荅 phonetic clue providing the sound dá

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

6· Phonetic Root: 荅 (dā)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the illness/condition classifier 疒 and the phonetic element 荅, created to represent abnormal growths, sores, or boils on the human body.

Semantic Evolution: Originally referring specifically to pathological skin bumps or boils, its modern usage is heavily bound into compound nouns like 疙瘩 (gēda - lump/knot).

Skin-related terms in traditional Chinese medicine often utilized the 疒 radical to track etiology and physical symptoms.

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

When you have a nasty SICKNESS (疒) that results in a painful BOIL or SORE, you keep shouting 'DA! DA!' (dá) every time someone accidentally bumps into it.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

荅

dāvariant of 答[da1]Phonetic Core (声旁)

塔

tǎold variant of 塔[ta3]+ 土 (earth)

搭

dāto put up; to build (scaffolding)+ 扌 (hand)

嗒

dā(onom.) used in words that describe machine gunfire, the ticking of a clock or the clatter of horse hooves etc+ 口 (mouth)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

答(dá)

答 has the bamboo radical (⺮) used for answering questions, whereas 瘩 has the sickness radical (疒) for skin sores and boils.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

他身上长了一个疙[___]。

Clue: dá

Common Learner Pitfall

Treating 瘩 as a standalone everyday free word rather than remembering it is almost exclusively seen in the compound 疙瘩 (gēda).

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does the disease radical (疒) combined with 荅 signify in 瘩?

Production: How do you write the character for a skin sore or boil (dá)?

瘩dásore, boil, scab

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