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大败 (dà bài) — to utterly defeat (someone); to suffer a crushing defeat

Definition

A verb meaning 'to utterly defeat' (transitive) or 'to suffer a crushing defeat' (intransitive, often passive). The 大 adds emphasis — stronger than the plain 败 or typical 打败/击败.

verb
to utterly defeat (someone)to suffer a crushing defeat

Examples

  • 大败。
    Wǒ jūn dà bài le dí jūn zhǔ lì.
    Our army utterly defeated the enemy's main force.
  • 。
    Dí jūn zài zhè chǎng zhàn yì zhōng dà bài.
    The enemy suffered a crushing defeat in this battle.
  • 大败。
    Tā zhǐ huī de bù duì bèi dà bài le.
    The troops he commanded were utterly defeated.

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.

大dàgreatly
败bàidefeat

大 (greatly) and 败 (defeat) combine to mean a crushing defeat.

Characters in this word

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

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

Open 大 →

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 敗; 败 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
攵Written in full as攴pūstrike
Sound part声符shēngfú
貝
貝bèi敗bài
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 敗 has 貝 as the sound component and 攴 (written 攵) meaning strike. The simplified 败 is a later abbreviation, so its parts are not the original components.

Open 败 →
Appears in
Success & Failure

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