咳喘 is a compound noun meaning 'coughing and wheezing'—two related respiratory symptoms that often occur together, especially in conditions like bronchitis, asthma, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The first character, 咳 (ké), means 'to cough', while the second, 喘 (chuǎn), means 'to pant' or 'to wheeze', referring to labored, noisy breathing. Together, they form a medical and colloquial term describing a combined symptom pattern rather than two separate actions.

This word is commonly used in clinical settings, health advisories, and everyday conversation when discussing respiratory discomfort. It appears frequently in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) terminology—for example, in diagnoses like 'phlegm-dampness obstructing the lungs', where 咳喘 is a key presenting sign. While it can be used descriptively in narratives, it is rarely used in formal biomedical reports outside TCM contexts; Western medicine tends to specify each symptom separately.