消灭 (xiāo miè) — to eliminate, to wipe out, to annihilate | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

消灭 is 'to wipe out / annihilate' — focused on making something (enemies, pests, problems) completely disappear, stronger than 消除 (which is just 'remove').

verb

to eliminateto wipe outto annihilate

Examples

消灭。
Tā men chè dǐ xiāo miè le dí rén.
They completely wiped out the enemy.
消灭。
Zhè zhǒng bìng dú hěn nán xiāo miè.
This virus is very hard to eliminate.
消灭。
Zhèng fǔ zhèng zài xiāo miè pín qióng.
The government is eliminating poverty.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

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

灭mièdestroy

消 and 灭 both point to ending something, so together they mean eliminate.

Characters in this word

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

氵肖消

Meaning part形符xíngfú

氵Written in full as水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

肖

肖xiào消xiāo

Same sound today

消 has 氵 (water) beside 肖. The water part connects to putting out or making something vanish, and 肖 gives the sound.

Most 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 滅; 灭 is its simplified writing.

氵烕滅

Meaning part形符xíngfú

氵Written in full as水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

烕

烕miè滅miè

Same sound today

The traditional form 滅 pairs 氵 (water) with 烕 as a sound part to mean extinguish by water; the simplified 灭 is a later shorthand.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 6 HSK 2.0 Level 5 Military & Defense 5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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