头痛 vs 头疼

[Desmond]

Hey guys,

I've seen both of those ways of saying a headache, but I'm not sure how to use each. I've tried searching on the net but I've only been able to verify that you can say "我头疼死了"

Are they use differently? Is 头疼 a verb and 头痛 a noun? Can you say

我头痛

我头很痛

我头痛死了

我有一个头痛

我头疼

我头很疼

我有一个头疼

writing all this, 我头疼死了 haha

[Catdiseased]

Afaik, you never say 我有一个头痛 or 我有一个头疼, but use the first options instead. I'm not sure about the difference between the two tong characters though, I guess that 头痛 can be used as a noun.

[Jose]

I think 疼 is more commonly used in North China whereas 痛 is more common in the South. Other than that, I think they're used in the same way.

[skylee]

I think 疼 has the meaning of love as in 疼愛, whereas 痛 has the meaning of "to the fullest extent" as in 痛快. Other than these, both of them mean pain and ache. And they are used together, as in 肌肉疼痛 (muscle ache).

[ace-interpreter]

1、For the feeling caused by wound,disease etc.you can use either of them.

2、For the feeling of sorrow, you can only use 痛，for instance,痛惜，痛不欲生

3、For the feeling of fondness, you can only use 疼，for instance, 疼爱，心疼

4、For the feeling of "to the top of one's bent"“to the fullest extent”, 痛 is the only choice,for instance,痛快

Hope this is helpful~

[Desmond]

Thanks, it has been very helpful

So you can't say "有通吗？" if you want to ask somebody if they have pain?

[in_lab]

How would you say, "Stop, you're hurting me" ?

I would probably say something like "別打我,你讓我痛." But I seem to remember that that is wrong. Is there a better way?

[skylee]

別打我/停手/住手! 你弄痛我啦!

別打我/停手/住手! 好痛!

So you can't say "有通吗？" if you want to ask somebody if they have pain?

痛嗎?

你痛嗎?

你哪裏痛嗎?

你這裏痛嗎?

你的頭/手/臉/肚子/喉嚨 (etc) 痛嗎?

[in_lab]

Thanks! This is the definitive 疼痛 thread.

[vengaya]

After reading this thread, I developed a genuine curiosity in knowing if there was indeed a mysterious difference between 头痛 vs 头疼.

Since I had no idea, I asked two different native Chinese guys. Their reply was quite clear:

No difference whatsoever.

[roddy]

There seem to be differences in grammar / usage though.

Example - I think 头疼 is usually used figuratively for something that is difficult / troublesome to deal with - where in English we might say 'it's a real headache / pain in the neck' - but 头痛 wouldn't be used like that. I searched Google (great substitute for scientific methodology, I know) for "真让我头疼" and "真让我头痛", with quotes - 1,050 results versus 1 result, respectively. So while the meaning might be the same, they're not interchangable. Could be a result of grammar rather than usage though.

Roddy

[skylee]

Since I am Cantonese (I think this is the reason) I use only 痛. I know the word 疼 and its usage but it is not in my daily vocab (spoken) and will only appear in my writing in the form of 疼痛 and 疼愛.

I do not differentiate between 頭疼 and 頭痛 as roddy said. They are the same to me. But I don't use the word 疼.

So I tend to agree with Jose and vengaya.

[in_lab]

I tried searching for "真让我头痛" in traditional characters and got 650 hits. Less than touteng, but acceptable.

[semantic nuance]

頭痛 and 頭疼 can be both used to mean 'a headache' in physical pain and abstract idea of pain in the neck.

When everyone here 頭痛 about the usage of 頭痛 and 頭疼. I'll cure you guys with more phrases to ease your headache:

1. 傷腦筋 shang1 nao3 jin 1 :used in abstract idea

2. 傷神 shang1 shen2 : the same is the above

3. 一個頭兩個大 : again the same.

Hope your heads now are not ㄧ個頭兩個大

[chenpv]

I didnt know this was hotly discussed. Very interesting! I think I will say something about it, just personal opinion.

'痛', caused by physical or mental diseases, elucidates the products - including images appeared in your mind, former experiences, feelings etc. - of the brain, which processes the extraneous unpleasant stimuli. In short, it is more of a kind of feeling made by your brain.

'疼', very objective, elucidates the stimuli without any brain processes.

Give you some examples:

'好了伤疤忘了疼'------ why not '痛', because once a cut or bruise heals, the stimuli (疼)will disappear and you can easily forget them. It is obviously not the feeling (eg.scare) created by your brain.

'疼爱'------- why not '痛'? Ok, imagine a couple in their honeymoon, and they are kissing. The young man loves his darling so much that he unconsciously holds her too tight------- then, what happens, the stimuli, the woman might screem. Literally speaking, '疼爱' can be translated as 'the hurt/stimuli caused by love'. It is a thing you give to others not at all the feelings('痛') live inside you.

'头疼' vs ‘头痛’：

'头疼'------ 1. to describe the illness 'headache' 2. to decribe something hard to handle:

eg: 这件事让我头疼. --------- This work is really tricky as if it bashed me in the head. (It doesnt mean you hate it, only some reluctance of giving out your energy on that.)

but if you say ‘这件事让我头痛。'------------ This work really pisses me off and will remind me of some really unpleasent memories and feelings. (It shows extreme hatred.)

'痛不欲生'---------why not ’疼‘? It is the deep 'sorrow','hurt in heart' that make you despise your life, but obviously not the 'stimuli'.

One more thing, in Cantonese, many differences between similar words in standard Chinese seem non-existent. And there is a trend of imitating Cantonese nowadays, among people, in TV programs, etc, insomuch as it sounds cute, naive, or smart that way. I believe this issue had been discussed before in this forum and I stayed out it because I would possibly irritate lots of people. Hehe, if language evolves that way, it's time I adjusted myself to it.

[calif90071]

I'm just a little confused about this...sorry for the rather elementary question haha