自绝 (zì jué) — alienate oneself (from), cut oneself off (from); seek self-destruction

Definition

A formal verb meaning 'to cut oneself off from' (a group, the people, society) or, by extension, 'to seek one's own destruction.' Always written; rarely used in everyday speech.

verb
alienate oneself (from)cut oneself off (from)seek self-destruction
Easily confused

Examples

  • ，自绝。
    Tā yīn wèi gù zhí jǐ jiàn, zuì zhōng zì jué yú zhěng gè tuán duì.
    Because of his stubbornness, he eventually alienated himself from the entire team.
  • 自绝，。
    Zhè zhǒng zì jué yú rén mín de xíng wéi, zhù dìng huì shī bài.
    This kind of self-alienation from the people is doomed to fail.
  • 自绝，。
    Tā zǒu shàng le yì tiáo zì jué zhī lù, lìng rén wǎn xī.
    He embarked on a path of self-destruction, which is regrettable.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

自zìself
绝juécut off

自 (self) + 绝 (cut off) gives the sense of cutting oneself off or seeking self-destruction.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

自 originally drew a nose. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write 自, so the picture and the meaning are unrelated.

Open 自 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 絕; 绝 is its simplified writing.

In the traditional form 絕, 刀 (knife) and 幺 (silk) show a knife cutting silk threads. The simplified 绝 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the original picture.

Open 绝 →

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