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拆毁 (chāi huǐ) — to demolish, to tear down

Definition

verb
to demolishto tear down

Examples

  • 拆毁。
    Gōng rén men zhèng zài chāi huǐ nà dòng jiù lóu.
    The workers are demolishing that old building.
  • 拆毁。
    Zhèng fǔ jué dìng chāi huǐ zhè zuò wēi xiǎn de qiáo liáng.
    The government decided to pull down this dangerous bridge.
  • ，拆毁。
    Yīn wèi chéng shì guī huà, lǎo chéng qū bèi quán bù chāi huǐ le.
    Due to urban planning, the old city area was entirely demolished.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

拆chāitear down
毁huǐruin

拆 means 'tear down' and 毁 means 'ruin', so the result is a building torn down and ruined.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
手手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
斥
斥chì拆chāi
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

拆 uses 手 to show an action done by hand, with 斥 giving the sound. In an earlier related form, the hand part replaced an earth part to stress the action by hand.

Open 拆 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 毀; 毁 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 毀 combines 臼 (cracked skull), 工 (tool), and 殳 (hand action) as a man being hit in the head; this explanation is about 毀, not the simplified 毁.

Open 毁 →
Appears in
Buildings & Structures

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