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破产 (pò chǎn) — (of a company or person) to go bankrupt; (of a plan, scheme, etc.) to fall through, to collapse

Definition

破产 is the formal/legal term 'to go bankrupt' for companies or people. For a business simply closing, 倒闭 is more colloquial. Plans/ideas 'falling through' use the same verb literally.

verb
(of a company or person) to go bankrupt(of a plan, scheme, etc.) to fall throughto collapse

Examples

  • 破产。
    Nà jiā yín háng qù nián pò chǎn le.
    That bank went bankrupt last year.
  • 。
    Tā yīn wèi tóu zī shī bài pò guò yí cì chǎn.
    He went bankrupt once because of investment failure.
  • 破产。
    Wǒ men de jì huà chè dǐ pò chǎn le.
    Our plan completely fell through.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

破pòbreak
产chǎnproperty

破 means break, and 产 refers to property, so the idea is property being broken up.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
石石shí
Sound part声符shēngfú
皮
皮pí破pò
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

破 has 石 (stone) as its meaning part and 皮 as its sound part.

Open 破 →

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 產; 产 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
生生shēngto be born
Sound part声符shēngfú
彥
彥yàn產chǎn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 產 pairs 生, "to be born," with 彥 as a sound part; the simplified 产 is a shorthand.

Open 产 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6HSK 2.0 Level 5Finance & Banking5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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