血战 (xuè zhàn) — bloody battle; fierce battle

Definition

A 'bloody/fierce battle' (noun) — emphasizes extreme, life-or-death combat. Often used in extended/chengyu-style contexts (e.g. 血战到底 'fight to the bitter end').

noun
bloody battlefierce battle
Measure word · 场

Examples

  • 血战。
    Zhè chǎng zhàn zhēng shì yì chǎng xuè zhàn.
    This war was a bloody battle.
  • 血战。
    Liǎng zhī qiú duì zài jué sài zhōng jìn xíng le xuè zhàn.
    The two teams fought a bloody battle in the finals.
  • ,血战。
    Wèi le bǎo wèi jiā yuán, tā men zhǔn bèi le yì chǎng xuè zhàn.
    To defend their homeland, they prepared for a bloody battle.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

血xuèblood
战zhànbattle

血 adds the sense of bloodshed to 战, giving a fierce battle.

Characters in this word

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

  • 一一yīdrop of blood
  • 皿皿mǐncontainer

The shape shows 一, a drop of blood, inside 皿, a container, for blood held in a sacrificial vessel.

Open 血 →

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
Sound part声符shēngfú
占
占zhàn战zhàn
Same sound today

战 pairs 占, which gives its sound, with 戈, a weapon.

Open 战 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.