减税 (jiǎn shuì) — to reduce taxes, to cut taxes | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Formal verb-object compound for 'to cut taxes', used in government and economic policy. 税 can separate and take quantifiers: 减过一次税, 减了两百亿的税。

verb

to reduce taxesto cut taxes

Examples

减税。
Zhèng fǔ jué dìng míng nián jì xù jiǎn shuì.
The government decided to continue tax cuts next year.
。
Zhè jiā gōng sī qù nián jiǎn guò yí cì shuì.
This company cut taxes once last year.
，。
Wèi le cì jī jīng jì, zhèng fǔ jīn nián jiǎn le liǎng bǎi yì de shuì.
To stimulate the economy, the government cut taxes by 20 billion this year.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

减 means reduce, and 税 names the taxes being reduced.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 減; 减 is its simplified writing.

氵咸減

氵水shuǐwater
咸咸xiánseal

The traditional form 減 has 氵, water, and 咸, a seal: sealing off a stream of water lessens its flow. The simplified 减 is a later abbreviation.

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

禾兑税

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

兑

兑duì税shuì

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

税 pairs 禾, a grain plant, with 兑, which gives the character its sound.

Appears in

Finance & Banking

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