爆破 (bào pò) — to blast, to demolish, to blow up

Definition

verb
to blastto demolishto blow up

Examples

  • 爆破。
    Tā men zài shān shàng jìn xíng bào pò zuò yè.
    They are conducting blasting operations on the mountain.
  • 爆破。
    Zhè ge jiù lóu xū yào bào pò chāi chú.
    This old building needs to be demolished by blasting.
  • 爆破。
    bào pò Shí suǒ yǒu rén dōu yào chè lí dào ān quán qū yù.
    During the blast, everyone must evacuate to a safe area.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

爆bàoexplode
破pòbreak

“爆” means explode and “破” means break, together giving blast or demolish.

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
火火huǒ
Sound part声符shēngfú
暴
暴bào爆bào
Same sound today

爆 combines 火 (fire) with 暴, which supplies the sound and also originally meant violence.

Open 爆 →

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
石石shí
Sound part声符shēngfú
皮
皮pí破pò
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

破 has 石 (stone) as its meaning part and 皮 as its sound part.

Open 破 →

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