肝炎
gon¹ jim⁴
The English phrase "hepatitis" is 肝炎 (gon¹ jim⁴) in Cantonese.
The term refers to the medical condition of liver inflammation. You can specify the type of hepatitis by placing the type name before the term, such as 乙型肝炎 for Hepatitis B.
Meaning: liver inflammation (noun)
What does it mean word for word?
肝炎 is composed of 肝, meaning liver and 炎, meaning inflammation.
How do you pronounce it?
The romanization is gon¹ jim⁴.
Did you know?
- In Cantonese, the phrase 肝火旺, which shares the root for 'liver' found in 肝炎, is used to describe someone who is irritable or stressed.
- The character 炎 in 肝炎 is a visual representation of intense heat, created by stacking two 'fire' characters 火 on top of each other.
- The use of 炎 to mean inflammation in 肝炎 stems from an ancient view that medical inflammation is actually 'internal fire' within the body.
Examples in context
- 預防肝炎的最好方法就是接種疫苗。The best way to prevent hepatitis is through vaccination.
- 肝發炎通常由病毒引起。Liver inflammation is often caused by viruses.
- 他正在康復，肝發炎的徵狀已經減輕了。He's recovering, and the symptoms of liver inflammation have diminished.
- 醫生話呢種肝炎好常見。ji1 sang1 waa6 ni1 zung2 gan1 jim1 hou2 soeng4 gin3.The doctor said this type of hepatitis is very common.
- 要小心預防乙型肝炎。jiu3 siu2 sam1 jyu6 fong4 jyut6 jing4 gan1 jim1.One must be careful to prevent hepatitis B.
Example conversation
Two friends are talking about health check-up results.
- 嘉欣 Ka Yan志強，你個檢查報告出咗未？zi3 koeng4, nei5 go3 gim2 caa4 bou3 gou3 ceot1 zo2 mei6?Zhiqiang, has your test report come out yet?
- 志強 Chi Keung出咗，醫生話我有輕微肝炎。ceot1 zo2, ji1 sang1 waa6 ngo5 jau5 hing1 mei4 gon1 jim4.It has, the doctor said I have mild hepatitis.
- 嘉欣 Ka Yan咁嚴重咩？要點治療呀？gam3 jing4 zung6 me1? jiu3 dim2 zi6 liau6 aa3?Is it that serious? How do you treat it?
- 志強 Chi Keung唔太嚴重，只要注意休息就得。m4 taai3 jing4 zung6, zi2 jiu3 zyu3 ji3 jau1 sik1 zau6 dak1.Not too serious, I just need to make sure I get some rest.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “hepatitis” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
