扫除 (sǎo chú) — to sweep, to clean (literal); to sweep away, to… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

扫除 means 'to sweep and clean' (e.g. a room) and, figuratively, 'to sweep away' problems or evils. More thorough than 扫; for abstract eradication of social evils, see 杜绝.

verb

to sweepto clean (literal)to sweep awayto eliminateto eradicate (figurative)

Examples

扫除。
Wǒ men měi tiān dōu yào sǎo chú jiào shì.
We need to clean the classroom every day.
扫除。
Zhèng fǔ jué xīn sǎo chú suǒ yǒu fǔ bài.
The government is determined to sweep away all corruption.
扫除。
Tā nǔ lì sǎo chú xīn zhōng de kǒng jù.
He strives to sweep away the fear in his heart.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

扫 (sweep) and 除 (remove) combine to mean sweeping away or eliminating.

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 掃; 扫 is its simplified writing.

The form 掃 draws a hand with a broomstick, the thing used for sweeping.

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

阜阜fù

Sound part声符shēngfú

余

余yú除chú

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

除 is built from 阜 and 余, with 余 giving the sound.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 Cleaning & Chores

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