感冒

Etymology

Attested since the Song dynasty.

冒 (mào) probably refers to “to emit; to manifest”, with 感冒 literally meaning “affected [by the wind] and [the symptoms have] manifested”.

Pronunciation

Noun

感冒

1. (pathology) cold (common viral illness); common cold

   細菌性感冒／细菌性感冒  ―  xìjūnxìng gǎnmào  ―  bacterial cold

   病毒性感冒  ―  bìngdúxìng gǎnmào  ―  viral cold

2. (informal) influenza
3. (literary, historical) pretext for requesting leave of absence used by officials in the Qing dynasty

   • 按今制官員請假輒以感冒為辭，當即宋時「感風簿」之遺意。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     按今制官员请假辄以感冒为辞，当即宋时「感风簿」之遗意。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 俞樾 (Yu Yue), 《茶香室叢鈔》

     Àn jīn zhì guānyuán qǐngjià zhé yǐ gǎnmào wéi cí, dāngjí Sòng shí “gǎnfēngbù” zhī yíyì. [Pinyin]

     Nowadays officials use the pretext of “affected [by disease] and [symptoms have] manifested” for their absence; this is inherited from ganfengbu (sign-in book for officials who had been affected by the cold wind and fallen ill) in the Song dynasty.

Verb

感冒

1. to catch a cold
2. (literary) to sense; to feel
3. (Mainland China, figurative, colloquial, often in the negative) to fancy; to be interested in
4. (Taiwan, figurative, colloquial) to loathe; to hate