免疫 (miǎnyì) — immunity, immune

免疫 (miǎnyì)

免疫 refers to the biological capacity of an organism to resist disease, or more broadly, to being protected from or unaffected by something harmful.

Meanings

1. [noun] immunity (biological or metaphorical)
2. [verb] to be immune to, to have immunity against

Example Sentences

接种疫苗可以增强人体对疾病的免疫能力。 Jiēzhòng yìmiáo kěyǐ zēngqiáng réntǐ duì jíbìng de miǎnyì nénglì. Vaccination can enhance the body's immunity against disease.

他的免疫系统因长期压力而变得脆弱。 Tā de miǎnyì xìtǒng yīn chángqī yālì ér biàn de cuìruò. His immune system became weakened due to long-term stress.

这种病毒变异非常快，让人们难以产生有效免疫。 Zhè zhǒng bìngdú biànyì fēicháng kuài, ràng rénmen nán yǐ chǎnshēng yǒuxiào miǎnyì. This virus mutates so quickly that it is difficult for people to develop effective immunity.

经历了那么多失败，他似乎对批评产生了免疫。 Jīnglì le nàme duō shībài, tā sìhū duì pīpíng chǎnshēng le miǎnyì. Having experienced so many failures, he seemed to have become immune to criticism.

群体免疫是应对传染病的重要策略之一。 Qúntǐ miǎnyì shì yìngduì chuánrǎn bìng de zhòngyào cèlüè zhī yī. Herd immunity is one of the important strategies for dealing with infectious diseases.

研究人员正在努力开发针对这种病毒的免疫疗法。 Yánjiū rényuán zhèngzài nǔlì kāifā zhēnduì zhè zhǒng bìngdú de miǎnyì liáofǎ. Researchers are working hard to develop immunotherapy against this virus.

Collocations

Usage Notes

免疫 is primarily a medical and biological term but is widely used metaphorically in everyday Chinese. The phrase 对...产生免疫 (to develop immunity to) can describe becoming desensitized to anything -- criticism, bad news, or even advertisements. This metaphorical use is common in informal writing and speech at B2 level.

The compound 免疫系统 (immune system) is extremely common in health-related content. 免疫力 (immunity, immune strength) is the everyday spoken variant, while 免疫能力 is slightly more formal.

Memory Hook

免 means "to be exempt from" and 疫 means "epidemic/plague" -- 免疫 is being exempt from the plague, spared from disease.