4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Final rendering: Next year my son wants to study medicine, but does not know which would be better (for him to study) -- opthamology or surgery. Discussion: Please see http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/part2/II-9-g.html#s5 for further discussion. Acknowledgement: Although everyone appears to agree about the basic meaning and multiple uses of these three characters, Yi Magnussun's examples were by far the most useful to me, as they have inspired me to enter a new Special Topic, if only I am still can find the time. Certainly, Commuease statement will be useful to beginning students of Chinese, as what he maintains is also true for the Japanese language. Simply, many Japanese have apparently abandonned the idea of creating new words that are not derivatives of foreign words expressed in katakana. In this regard, the integrity of the Chinese language is better preserved. In the meantime the English language is being destroyed by ignorance, arrogance, false competition, and misguided ambition throughout the world. My thanks also to the other contributors including wherestip, commuease, Joyce, and anastasia t. Best wishes from the land of no mountains surrounded by sea on many sides."