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I was playing around with some words on Google Translate trying to see if I
can form a sentence while learning some new words. I came across this
translation -

  * 咳 translates to cough
  * 止め translates to stop
  * 薬 translates to medicine

Both combinations - 咳止め and 咳薬 - translate to cough medicine. It makes sense
to combine the words for _cough_ and _medicine_ but I've also seen a few kanji
that have one meaning when used alone, and have a different meaning when used
in a different context or with another kanji.

This is where I'm a bit confused; which one of them is the correct usage? If
both are correct, in which situation or context are they used?

As a side note, [DeepL](https://www.deepl.com/translate) translates them as
follows:

  * 咳止め - cough medicine/cough syrup
  * 咳薬 - cough medicine/remedy for cough
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2022-01-12T12:47:54.643
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2022-01-12T16:19:25.087
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question
word-choice nuances
What is the correct usage between 咳止め and 咳薬
[咳止め【せきどめ】](https://jisho.org/word/%E5%92%B3%E6%AD%A2%E3%82%81) is a very
common word virtually every native speaker knows. You can find this word in
any drug store in Japan. On the other hand, even though the meaning of 咳薬 is
self-evident, it's an unfamiliar word to me. I googled 咳薬, and most results
were part of
[鎮咳薬【ちんがいやく】](https://jisho.org/word/%E9%8E%AE%E5%92%B3%E8%96%AC), which is a
highly stiff medical term for 咳止め. There are some web pages where 咳薬 is used
by native speakers, so I wouldn't go so far as to say it doesn't exist, but it
is certainly an uncommon word.

Note that both Google Translate and DeepL can make a guess that sometimes
looks very reasonable. Just because those engines gave a sound English
translation for a Japanese "word" doesn't necessarily mean it really exists in
Japanese.

Related: [Can kanji compounds be formed
arbitrarily?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/17996/5010)
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answer