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宰割 (zǎi gē) — to slaughter and cut up (livestock, meat); to oppress and exploit; to carve up (a country, territory, or people)

Definition

Literal sense: slaughter and butcher livestock (鸡、羊). Figurative sense — the one learners will mostly meet at HSK 7 — means to carve up and exploit a weak country or people, much stronger than 侵略.

verb
to slaughter and cut up (livestock, meat)to oppress and exploitto carve up (a country, territory, or people)

Examples

  • 宰割。
    Zhè zhī jī yǐ jīng bèi zǎi gē le.
    This chicken has already been slaughtered and cut up.
  • ，宰割。
    Lì shǐ shàng, ruò guó cháng bèi qiáng guó zǎi gē.
    Historically, weak countries are often carved up by strong ones.
  • 宰割。
    Zhí mín zhě cán kù dì zǎi gē le nà piàn tǔ dì de rén mín.
    The colonists ruthlessly oppressed and exploited the people of that land.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

宰zǎislaughter
割gēcut

宰 (slaughter) and 割 (cut) combine to mean cut up, also used for oppressive carving up.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

  • 宀宀miánhouse
  • 乂乂yìto govern

The lower part of 宰 comes from 乂, 'to govern'; with 宀, 'house', it makes a house of government.

Open 宰 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
刂Written in full as刀dāo
Sound part声符shēngfú
害
害hài割gē
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

割 combines 害, which provides the sound, with 刂, the knife form of 刀, to show cutting.

Open 割 →
Appears in
Conflict & Agreement

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