醫院 / 医院
The Cantonese word for hospital is 醫院 / 医院.
醫院 / 医院 is used to refer to a large medical facility.
Meaning: large medical facility (noun)
What does it mean word for word?
The term is composed of the characters 醫, meaning medical or healing and 院, meaning institution, courtyard or building, literally translating to "medical institution".
Did you know?
- In Hong Kong, people often use the English word 'hospital' mid-sentence while speaking Cantonese, especially when referring to specific private facilities.
- In traditional Cantonese culture, some people avoid saying certain words related to hospitals or illness in a celebratory setting to prevent 'bad luck' from entering the conversation.
- While 醫院 refers to the building, the phrase for seeing a doctor is 睇醫生, using the verb 睇, which normally means 'to look' or 'to watch'.
Examples in context
- 香港有好多間醫院，可以揀選。Hong Kong has many hospitals to choose from.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “hospital” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
