歼 (jiān) — (bound form) to annihilate; to destroy

Definition

A bound morpheme (must attach to a verb like 灭 or 击) meaning 'to annihilate / wipe out' — stronger than 消灭, and used almost entirely in military context (歼灭, 歼击机, 歼敌).

bound form

to annihilateto destroy

Easily confused

Examples

。
Wǒ jūn chéng gōng jiān miè le dí fāng de zhǔ lì bù duì.
Our army successfully annihilated the enemy's main force.
。
Zhè chǎng zhàn zhēng zhōng zuì cǎn liè de zhàn yì shì quán jiān le dí jūn de yí gè shī.
The most brutal battle in this war was the complete annihilation of an enemy division.
，歼。
Wèi le chè dǐ qīng chú wēi xié, tā men cǎi qǔ le jīng què jiān jī de cè lüè.
To completely eliminate the threat, they adopted a strategy of precision strikes.

Origin

Sound + meaning

六书liùshū

形声xíngshēng

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 殲; 歼 is its simplified writing.

歹韱殲

Meaning part形符xíngfú

歹歹dǎi

Sound part声符shēngfú

韱

韱xiān殲jiān

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 殲 combines 歹 (a meaning part) with 韱 (a sound part); the simplified 歼 is a shorthand, so its right side is not the historical sound part.