粗暴 (cū bào) — rough, crude, brutal | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

粗暴 describes rough, aggressive behavior or treatment — focused on manner, not texture (use 粗糙 for surfaces) and crueler/more violent than 粗鲁 ('rude, boorish'). Often pairs with 对待, 拒绝, 干涉.

adjective

roughcrudebrutal

Examples

粗暴，。
Tā shuō huà de fāng shì hěn cū bào, ràng rén hěn bù shū fu.
He speaks roughly, making people very uncomfortable.
粗暴。
Zhè zhǒng cū bào de duì dài fāng shì shì bú duì de.
This kind of rough treatment is wrong.
粗暴。
Tā cū bào dì jù jué le wǒ men de hǎo yì.
He rudely rejected our good intentions.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

“粗” rough and “暴” harsh combine to describe rough, cruel behavior.

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.

米且粗

Meaning part形符xíngfú

米米mǐrice

Sound part声符shēngfú

且

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

粗 pairs 米 (rice), which points to its meaning, with 且, which gives a clue to its sound.

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

虎虎hǔtiger
戈戈gēweapon

The earliest form paired 虎 and 戈, a tiger and a weapon. The later 暴 came from a picture of hands drying something in the sun.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 Good & Bad

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