损 (sǔn) — to damage, to harm; to be mean or shabby; to be sarcastic (dialectal)
Definition
损 is a bound form meaning 'damage, harm, loss' — it appears inside compounds like 损坏, 损失, 损害, not as a standalone verb. Be careful: 损友 means 'bad friend' (a friend who harms you), not 'shabby friend'.
bound form
to damageto harmto be mean or shabbyto be sarcastic (dialectal)
Examples
- 。Zhè chǎng yǔ duì zhuāng jia zào chéng le hěn dà de sǔn huài.This rain caused great damage to the crops.
- 。Zhè cì tóu zī sǔn shī le bù shǎo qián.This investment lost quite a bit of money.
- 损，。Tā shì gè sǔn yǒu, zǒng shì piàn rén.He is a bad friend who always cheats people.
Origin
Sound + meaning六书liùshū
形声xíngshēngMost characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.
This origin belongs to the traditional form 損; 损 is its simplified writing.
Sound part声符shēngfú
員
員yuán損sǔn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.
The traditional form 損 pairs 手 (hand) with 員 as a sound part; the simplified 损 is a later shorthand, so its visible parts are not the original components.
Appears in
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