本文從詞族研究觀點探討閩南語表示生病的phua3 pi7 一詞的漢語語源。 文中檢討一般所標寫的「破病」與「發病」，前者只可分析爲述賓詞組，且由 於「破」字取義於聲符「皮」的義素：去除分離，因此是表示破除疾病而非生 病。而後者無法對應於閩東方言的音韻規則。文獻中另有「被病」一詞，由疾 病披覆於身，引申爲罹患疾病。語音方面，無法建立閩語各次方言間的規則對 當，透過尋音法僅能舉證若干例外的演變，合理的推測是韻書失收音義記錄。 另據「皮」詞族內部及典籍中的通假現象，音字和音義非嚴格對應，說明閩南 語「被」字確可讀爲phua3。
進一步利用詞綴的構詞與別義作用，來構擬「被」phua3語源形式爲 *s-bjiars，*s-詞頭將名詞轉變爲動詞，詞尾造成去聲別義。說明了上古音 到閩南語的音韻演變後，同時釐析閩南語「被」字三音讀的語義及層次： phua3來自上古層，僅保留在「被病」一詞；phe7屬晉代北方層，表示被褥一類；Pi7是文讀層的表現，用來作爲被動的標記。
本文的結論是，閩南的P$ua3 pi7的漢語語源爲「被病」。

This paper aims to explore the etymon of phua3 7，a verb which means “to get ill，，，in southern Min. Most of the dialect dictionaries use “破病” or “發病” as the Chinese etymon of' phua3 pH7, “破病” is a verb-object phrase. The radical “皮” in “破” means to remove，to separate in Old Chinese，so “破病” actually means “to recover from ill"，rather than “to get ill." In contrast，“發病” does not correspond to the phonological rules of the eastern Min dialects. Another possible form “被病” can be found in Old Chinese literature. “被” is derived from the phonetic element of the “pi”（皮)，and gets its basic meaning “to cover，to add". Thus, “被病” literally means that “the body is covered by the illness” -- a metaphorical expression of getting ill.
As for the aspect of pronunciation， it is difficult to explain irregular sound correspondences between medieval phonology and the Min dialects. It is because that some records of pronunciation and meaning of “ 被 ” were omitted in traditional Chinese phonetic dictionaries. According to the interchangeability of those cognates in “皮” word family and in classics, “被” is a derived word of labial sound, and the Group Ge of the Ancient Phonology (上古歌部）.Thusphua3 can be seen as one of the sound of “被” in the southern Min dialect.
Furthermore, the reconstruction of “被” as *s-bjiars is based upon the Sino-Tibetan comparative studies. The *s- prefix converts nouns into verbs, while the *-s suffix marks the “departing” tone. After discussing the shift in the Min dialects, this paper seeks to differentiate the diachronic strata of “被” in the southern Min dialect. I contend that (1) phua3 is only preserved in “被病”，and could be traced back to the archaic stratum; (2)phe7 means quilt, and belongs to the Jin northern stratum; (3) pi7 is a marker of passive sentence, and belongs to the Tang-Song stratum. To sum up, the Chinese etymon ofphua3pi7 is “被病”.