抹黑 (mǒ hēi) — to smear, to discredit, to bring shame on | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

'To smear, discredit, or bring shame on' someone — usually a person, company, or group, by damaging their reputation. Often collocates with 给 + person/organization + 抹黑.

verb

to smearto discreditto bring shame on

Examples

抹黑。
Nǐ bù néng zhè yàng gěi gōng sī mǒ hēi.
You can't smear the company like this.
抹黑。
Tā zuò zhè jiàn shì wán quán shì gěi zì jǐ mǒ hēi.
What he did was entirely to disgrace himself.
。
Tā zhè cì kě gěi jiā zú mǒ le hēi.
This time he really disgraced the family.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

抹 means to smear, and 黑 means black, so the action makes something black or discredits it.

Characters in this word

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

扌末抹

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒu

Sound part声符shēngfú

末

末mò抹mǒ

Same sound today

The left part 扌 is the hand component 手, showing an action done with the hand; the right part 末 gives the pronunciation.

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

The shape of 黑 seems to come from drawing a head marked with dots, usually read as facial tattoos.

Appears in

Communication & Speech Conflict & Agreement

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