换血 (huàn xiě) — to transfuse blood; to bring in new members to revitalize a team or organization

Definition

Literally 'to swap blood', 换血 is a vivid metaphor in business and sports meaning a wholesale replacement of personnel to revive performance. The literal medical sense (blood transfusion) is rare in modern usage — most contexts are figurative.

verb
to transfuse bloodto bring in new members to revitalize a team or organization

Examples

  • ，换血。
    Tā yīn wèi shī xuè guò duō, bì xū mǎ shàng huàn xiě.
    He lost too much blood and needs an immediate transfusion.
  • 换血。
    Zhè zhī qiú duì xū yào huàn xiě cái néng tí gāo shuǐ píng.
    This team needs to bring in new players to improve its level.
  • ，。
    Gōng sī huàn le yí cì xuè, xiào lǜ tí gāo le bù shǎo.
    The company did one round of personnel changes, and efficiency improved a lot.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

换huànreplace
血xuèblood

换 means to replace and 血 means blood, so the literal action is replacing blood.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 換; 换 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
手手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
奐
奐huàn換huàn
Same sound today

For the traditional form 換, 手 is the hand part and 奐 gives the sound; this note is about 換, not the simplified 换.

Open 换 →

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

  • 一一yīdrop of blood
  • 皿皿mǐncontainer

The shape shows 一, a drop of blood, inside 皿, a container, for blood held in a sacrificial vessel.

Open 血 →

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