疗 liáo cure
cure; to heal
How to remember 疗: 疒 illness + 了 complete = cure. After a week in bed with a nasty illness, the girl takes the complete course of medicine, the only thing that can cure her.
Component breakdown
疗 = 疒 illness + 了 complete
- 疒 illness
- 了 complete
After a week in bed with a nasty illness, the girl takes the complete course of medicine, the only thing that can cure her.
How it is used
- Bound morpheme meaning "to treat/cure" - it never appears alone as a verb, you can't say 我疗你 for "I'll treat you".
- Core compounds: 治疗 (zhìliáo) "to treat/treatment", 医疗 (yīliáo) "medical treatment" (the field), 疗养 (liáoyǎng) "to recuperate".
- 疗效 (liáoxiào) "healing efficacy" and 疗法 (liáofǎ) "therapy/method of treatment" are common in medical or health-article writing.
- For everyday "treat an illness" just use 治 or 治疗, not 疗 by itself.