Use a Chinese hospital: 挂号, the queue, the script
Doctors, symptoms, treatment and hospital visits.
Editorial: Javier Garcia Floriano · Contact
Founder of Chinese Trainer. These lists come from the app's HSK inventory (hanzi, pinyin, band), not from an official exam PDF.
A Chinese hospital does not start on the trolley. It starts at 挂号: you pick a 科室, pay the 门诊 fee, and take a number. HSK 2 already gives you 医生 and 医院. What moves you through the building is 挂号, 候诊, 验血, 拿药. 急诊 is another door, for what cannot wait; this page teaches the planned visit, not the emergency pack. Chinese Trainer tags each row with HSK, and those rows feed SRS. Save 挂号, 不舒服, 药 and 医生 first, then add 住院 and 手术 once you can say where it hurts without translating your whole history. A window hears 我要挂号 more than a paragraph on your foreign insurance. Bring a passport or 身份证: 挂号 will not open without ID.
Key takeaways
- 挂号 is the toll: no number, no 医生.
- 科室 is the department (内科, 外科, 皮肤科). If you do not know, say the symptom.
- 门诊 is the day clinic; 住院 is staying; 急诊 is the other door.
- 拿药 follows the script; many hospital pharmacies will not sell without 处方.
- This list is this site's inventory, not an official leaflet.
How to use these words
You arrive at a neighbourhood 医院 or a 三甲 one. The machine or window wants 挂号. If the written Chinese beats you, show the phone with 发热 or 肚子疼 and let them drop you in 内科 or 急诊. You pay 门诊费 (sometimes 医保, sometimes cash / QR). You get a code. 候诊 is sitting until the screen shouts your number. Do not jump the line: the building runs on turns, not on faces.
With the 医生, 不舒服 plus a body part is enough. 发烧, 咳嗽, 疼, 过敏. They may send 验血, B超, X光. Back to 候诊. Then 处方 and 拿药 in another queue. 住院 only if a bed is needed; 出院 is discharge. 手术 is not your first sentence: if they float it, ask 再想想 or for a translation.
The emergency pack (night, 急救) is another page. The trick here is not mixing 门诊 and 急诊: if you can wait, daytime 挂号 is cheaper and clearer. The dialogue below is window plus consult: say it with the QR ready, as if number 47 were already on the screen. Write 过敏 on your phone before you walk in. If they send you to another floor, ask 几楼; do not stall in the lobby translating the whole map.
How this list was built
The published count is 38 rows for this situation after exclusions, not the raw keyword match. We checked this inventory against the HSK bands on chinesetest.cn. HSK is the level tagged on each row. Chinese Trainer is the app whose SRS uses the same rows. Chinese hospital vocabulary is the situation this page teaches.
Word list
38 words in this topic (cleaned list) · HSK 2–5
挂号 and 门诊
| HSK | Hanzi | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 医院 | yīyuàn | Hospital |
| 2 | 住院 | zhùyuàn | to stay in hospital |
| 2 | 出院 | chūyuàn | to leave hospital |
| 2 | 日子 | rìzi | day |
| 6 | 预约 | yùyuē | to book |
| 7 | 挂号 | guàhào | to register |
6 words · Practice them in the app
Doctor and nurse
| HSK | Hanzi | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 医生 | yīshēng | doctor |
| 2 | 中医 | zhōngyī | traditional Chinese medical science |
| 2 | 西医 | xīyī | Western medicine |
| 3 | 大夫 | dàifu | doctor |
| 4 | 体检 | tǐjiǎn | physical exam |
| 4 | 医疗 | yīliáo | medical treatment |
| 4 | 护士 | hùshi | nurse |
| 4 | 治疗 | zhìliáo | to treat |
| 7 | 就医 | jiùyī | to receive medical treatment |
| 7 | 就诊 | jiùzhěn | to doctor |
| 7 | 急诊 | jízhěn | to give or receive urgent medical treatment |
| 7 | 求医 | qiúyī | to seek medical treatment |
12 words · Practice them in the app
Tests
| HSK | Hanzi | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 分析 | fēnxī | to analyze |
| 7 | 归根到底 | guīgēn-dàodǐ | after all |
| 7 | 说到底 | shuōdàodǐ | in the final analysis |
3 words · Practice them in the app
住院 and 出院
| HSK | Hanzi | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 手术 | shǒushù | operation |
| 7 | 当务之急 | dāngwùzhījí | top priority job |
| 7 | 手术室 | shǒushùshì | operating room |
3 words · Practice them in the app
Prescription and 药
| HSK | Hanzi | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 药店 | yàodiàn | pharmacy |
| 2 | 药水 | yàoshuǐ | medicine in liquid form |
| 7 | 剂 | jì | dose |
| 7 | 处方 | chǔfāng | medical prescription |
| 7 | 秘方 | mìfāng | secret recipe |
5 words · Practice them in the app
Anxiety and mood
| HSK | Hanzi | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 压力 | yālì | pressure |
| 7 | 不景气 | bùjǐngqì | slack |
| 7 | 忧虑 | yōulǜ | to worry |
| 7 | 抑郁 | yìyù | depressed |
| 7 | 抑郁症 | yìyùzhèng | clinical depression |
| 7 | 焦急 | jiāojí | anxiety |
| 7 | 焦虑 | jiāolǜ | anxious |
| 7 | 血压 | xuèyā | blood pressure |
| 7 | 高压 | gāoyā | high pressure |
9 words · Practice them in the app
Example sentences
| Hanzi | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|
| 我要挂号。 | Wǒ yào guàhào. | I need to register. |
| 挂内科。 | Guà nèikē. | Internal medicine, please. |
| 我有点不舒服。 | Wǒ yǒudiǎn bù shūfu. | I feel unwell. |
| 发烧，咳嗽。 | Fāshāo, késou. | Fever and a cough. |
| 要验血吗？ | Yào yànxuè ma? | Do I need a blood test? |
| 处方在哪儿拿药？ | Chǔfāng zài nǎr ná yào? | Where do I pick up medicine with this script? |
| 我过敏。 | Wǒ guòmǐn. | I have an allergy. |
| 需要住院吗？ | Xūyào zhùyuàn ma? | Do I need to be admitted? |
| 门诊费多少钱？ | Ménzhěn fèi duōshao qián? | How much is the clinic fee? |
| 不是急诊，我可以等。 | Bú shì jízhěn, wǒ kěyǐ děng. | It's not emergency — I can wait. |
Dialogue: 门诊 挂号 and the consult
Day hospital. Not 急诊. Window, wait, doctor, pharmacy.
| Speaker | Hanzi | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| You | 你好，我要挂号。挂内科。 | Nǐ hǎo, wǒ yào guàhào. Guà nèikē. | Hi, I need to register. Internal medicine. |
| Window | 有医保吗？门诊费十五。 | Yǒu yībǎo ma? Ménzhěn fèi shíwǔ. | Insurance? Clinic fee is 15. |
| You | 没有。我扫码。在哪儿候诊？ | Méiyǒu. Wǒ sǎo mǎ. Zài nǎr hòuzhěn? | No. I'll scan. Where do I wait? |
| Window | 三楼。看屏幕。 | Sān lóu. Kàn píngmù. | Third floor. Watch the screen. |
| Doctor | 哪儿不舒服？ | Nǎr bù shūfu? | What's wrong? |
| You | 发烧，咳嗽。我过敏，青霉素。 | Fāshāo, késou. Wǒ guòmǐn, qīngméisù. | Fever and cough. Penicillin allergy. |
| Doctor | 先验血。然后拿药。不用住院。 | Xiān yànxuè. Ránhòu ná yào. Bú yòng zhùyuàn. | Blood test first. Then medicine. No admission. |
| You | 处方在哪儿拿药？ | Chǔfāng zài nǎr ná yào? | Where do I collect with the script? |
| Doctor | 一楼药房。不是急诊。 | Yī lóu yàofáng. Bú shì jízhěn. | Pharmacy on 1. Not emergency. |
| You | 谢谢医生。 | Xièxie yīshēng. | Thank you, doctor. |
Measure words for this topic
次 for visits (看过两次). 盒 / 瓶 for medicine. 张 for scripts and reports. 个 for 号. 位 for 医生 in a respectful tone.
Common mistakes
| Wrong | Right | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Walking into 急诊 with a cold that can wait | 门诊 挂号 | 急诊 is for what cannot wait. A daytime cold is 挂号. |
| Skipping 挂号 and knocking on a doctor's door | Take a number first | No 号, no consult. The building does not run on barging in. |
| 住院 when you mean “see a doctor” | 看病 / 门诊 | 住院 is a bed. 看病 is the visit. |
| Buying 药 without 处方 in the hospital pharmacy | Get the script, then 拿药 | The hospital pharmacy fills a script, not a whim. |
| Not stating 过敏 | 我过敏… | Say the allergy at the start, not after the drip is up. |
FAQ
What is 挂号?
Registering and paying the 门诊 fee so they assign a 科室 and a number. Without it the 医生 does not see you.
门诊 or 急诊?
门诊 if you can wait in hours. 急诊 if it is 急救: severe pain, no air, a bad wound. This page is 门诊.
How do I pick a 科室?
Say the symptom at the window: 发烧 → 内科; skin → 皮肤科. If you do not know, 我不知道挂哪个科.
Is HSK 3 enough?
For 挂号 and 不舒服, yes. 住院, 手术 and test names want HSK 4–5 or a translator.
How do I practice hospital words?
Save 挂号, 科室 and 拿药 in Chinese Trainer SRS and say the window dialogue. The emergency pack is the sister page.
Practice in the app
The same hospital rows feed Chinese Trainer SRS. Start HSK 1–2 free, save 挂号 and 不舒服, and run today's deck before the next queue.