jiāqiáng

jiāqiáng (jiā·qiáng {adding (to)} · strengthening [→ [booster (e.g. for vaccine)]] 加强 加強) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

[Note: Tap/click on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to reveal its “flashcard”, tap/click on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to hide the “flashcard”.]

As of this writing, deep in the year 2021, the subject of the COVID-19 pandemic has been, to say the least, on people’s minds now for a while. So, it would be good to be able to refer to things related to it in Mandarin when speaking to people in the Mandarin field, or when speaking to our brothers and sisters in the truth.

An electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19
 NIAID

This week’s MEotW, “jiāqiáng (jiā·qiáng {adding (to)} · strengthening [→ [booster (e.g. for vaccine)]] 加强 加強)”, literally means “adding (to), strengthening”, and is often used to refer to the “booster” part of what English-speakers call a “booster shot” for, say, a COVID-19 vaccine.

How about the “shot” part of “booster shot”? It seems this can be expressed in Mandarin as “zhēn (needle → [injection; shot] 针 針/鍼)”, “jì ({medicinal/chemical preparation}; dose 剂 劑)”, or “zhēnjì (zhēn·jì {needle → [injection; shot]} · dose 针剂 針劑)” (the first two put together).

Frequencies

The following table of Google search result numbers gives us an idea of how frequently used these possible terms are, compared to each other: