猪流感(zhū liú gǎn)

猪流感 (zhū liú gǎn)
In the past few months, the H1N1 virus has made news headlines around the world. The virus was originally referred as 猪流感(zhū liú gǎn) "swine flu." To help you learn these three Chinese characters, we'll introduce 猪流感(zhū liú gǎn) word by word.

With the basic meaning of "pig," "boar" or "swine," 猪(zhū) conveys a deep cultural connotation in Chinese. 猪(zhū) is on the list of animals in the Chinese Zodiac, a system that uses twelve animals to designate years according to the Chinese lunar calendar. Therefore, the Chinese have attributed the word 猪(zhū) with many auspicious meanings. People have always believed that the 猪(zhū) can bring forth plentiful harvest and happiness.

流感(liú gǎn) is the abbreviation of 流行性感冒(liú xíng xìng gǎn mào) "flu, influenza." In this context, 流感(liú gǎn), 流(liú) can be understood as "being infectious" or "to spread." 感(gǎn) is the shortened form of 感冒(gǎn mào), which means "catch a cold." 巧克力 qiǎo kè lì (chocolate), 咖啡 kā fēi (coffee), 生日蛋糕 shēngrìdàngāo (birthday cake), 草莓 cǎo méi (strawberry)