全歼 (quán jiān) — to completely annihilate (the enemy); to wipe out to the last person

Definition

A military term meaning to annihilate the enemy completely — '全部消灭', stronger than the everyday 消灭. Used in reports of battles and campaigns, not for casual contexts.

verb
to completely annihilate (the enemy)to wipe out to the last person

Examples

  • 全歼。
    Wǒ jūn quán jiān le rù qīn de dí rén.
    Our army annihilated the invading enemy.
  • ，全歼。
    Zhè chǎng zhàn yì zhōng, tā men quán jiān le dí jūn yí gè shī.
    In this battle, they annihilated an enemy division.
  • 全歼。
    Zhǐ huī guān xià lìng bì xū quán jiān suǒ yǒu cán dí.
    The commander ordered to annihilate all remaining enemies.

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.

全quáncompletely
歼jiānannihilate

“全” completely + “歼” annihilate gives wipe out entirely.

Characters in this word

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

The shape puts 入 together with 玉 to show a whole piece of jade, so it means complete or whole.

Open 全 →

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 殲; 歼 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
歹歹dǎi
Sound part声符shēngfú
韱
韱xiān殲jiān
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 殲 combines 歹 (a meaning part) with 韱 (a sound part); the simplified 歼 is a shorthand, so its right side is not the historical sound part.

Open 歼 →

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