Difference between 疼 and 痛 ?

[blandmc]

Hi all!

Nothing urgent... just curious and hoping to gain wisdom from those who have gone before me.

For the last 10 years I have always heard Chinese people say 痛 for "pain" or "ow" or "it hurts." At least I hadn't noticed anyone say 疼, and I am aware you notice the word more after you learn it. So... I just learned 疼 and I am wondering what the difference is in meaning and usage - if any.

Thanks in advance for any insight!

-michael

[LongwenChinese]

In my part of China, which is the Northeast, we usually use 疼。

疼痛 is a fixed word.

[zhxlier]

It's probably related to your area... I'm from Beijing and no one says 痛。Always 疼。(I mean when the word is used alone.)

[Hofmann]

It seems 痛 is more popular overall.

[renzhe]

But surely there are set phrases/words like 头疼. I've never heard 头痛 myself. Or 肚子痛, which isn't offered by my pinyin input method, whereas 肚子疼 is.

[fanglu]

I've only ever heard 疼 used alone (as in person A: 疼吗？person B:疼！). 疼 also has another meaning, to love, as in 疼爱.

痛 is mainly used in compounds I think, and there are lot more of these than there are with 疼. Browsing through them in pleco it seems like 痛 when used in a literal sense is more medical than 疼 which seems to be more colloquial. 痛 also has a metaphorical use meaning grief, eg 悲痛.

[HashiriKata]

痛 also has a metaphorical use meaning grief, eg 悲痛.

and joy: 痛快

[xiaocai]

I've only ever heard 疼 used alone

I don't think there is anything wrong to say 痛不痛？ or 很痛, etc. Again, it might just be a north/south thing.

[blandmc]

Thanks for all the input guys!

Yes, I have definitely heard 痛 used alone. Also, MDBG has both 头疼 and 头痛 though I know that being in a dictionary does not necessarily equal common usage.

I am in Shanghai, but when I studied in the US my teacher was from Beijing and she only used 痛 (that I noticed). Hopefully I will start to notice usage of 疼 more now that I have formally learned it.

Thanks again!

[blandmc]

Thanks, LongwenChinese!

So, is 疼痛 a noun, adjective, or verb?

[trien27]

疼痛 is a fixed phrase. When separated, 疼 is used more for "hurt, pain, etc..." in the northern part of China, whereas, 痛 is used more in the southern part of China for the same thing.

[Holiday]

疼痛 can be used as verb or noun.

[trien27]

So, is 疼痛 a noun, adjective, or verb?

疼痛 as a fixed phrase is a noun. 疼 & 痛 when separated into two separate words = verbs or nouns, etc... depending on how it's used.

But surely there are set phrases/words like 头疼. I've never heard 头痛 myself.

头疼 = used in the north. It's used in Mandarin. 头痛 / 頭痛 is used in the south: It is used in Cantonese. 头痛治头, 脚痛治脚. or 头痛治头, 脚痛医脚 are often said in Chinese. How does one explain that then?

肚子痛, which isn't offered by my pinyin input method, whereas 肚子疼 is.

肚子疼 is used in Mandarin. But "肚子痛" is never used. In Cantonese, it's 肚痛, where in Cantonese via Middle Chinese, the diminutive suffixes -子 or -儿 , etc... is not used at all after most nouns.

痛不痛？ or 很痛

痛不痛？ is not used in Mandarin, but it is used in Cantonese, indirectly via 痛唔痛? when spoken, but when written, it might be 痛不痛?[ based on spoken Cantonese] or 疼不疼?[based on spoken Putonghua or Mandarin] depending on whether the audience are Mandarin speakers or Cantonese speakers or 好痛 [spoken Cantonese] for 很痛 [when written via Cantonese], etc... whereas it would be 很疼 when the audience are mostly non-Cantonese or mostly Mandarin speakers, etc...

Edited January 26, 2010 at 04:47 AM by trien27

[fanglu]

头痛治头, 脚痛治脚

I really like this phrase, meaning to treat only the symptoms of a problem but to miss the larger cause.

When I first heard this phrase I thought it was a 褒义词. Surely if your feet hurt you treat the feet and if your head hurts you treat the head. Not if you're a chinese doctor apparently.

[semantic nuance]

This thread may help.

You can say 肚子痛 / 頭痛, at least we use that in Taiwan.

痛不痛？ is not used in Mandarin,

We use it in Taiwan.

Hope it helps!

[xiaocai]

痛不痛？ is not used in Mandarin, but it is used in Cantonese

Really? I have been using it for 20+ years and I seriously hope I'm not the only one doing this...

[creamyhorror]

肚子疼 is used in Mandarin. But "肚子痛" is never used.

Sure it is. Mandarin doesn't just mean what's used in the North, or in the PRC.

1.36m google hits for "肚子疼", 1.14m for "肚子痛".

[Hofmann]

1,600,000 for "肚痛"

[creamyhorror]

1,600,000 for "肚痛"

"肚痛" is at 348,000 with quotes, so it's significantly less common than the other two.

[chrix]

Be careful with google, 頭痛 is also used in Japanese, so this will skew your results. (but not 疼, which can be an indicator that this is a new post-classical character, and my Classical dictionaries don't have it).

As far as 肚 goes, Japanese rarely uses it, so it should be skew the results less, but the bottom line is you can't really rely on google for scientifically relevant results.