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糟粕 (zāo pò) — dross, dregs; something worthless or unwanted (often figuratively: cultural/intellectual waste)

Definition

Literary word for the worthless 'dregs' or waste of something — ideas, culture, traditions — as opposed to 精华 ('the essence'). 渣 is the physical residue from cooking or smelting; 糟 is just 'ruined/bad'.

noun
drossdregssomething worthless or unwanted (often figuratively: cultural/intellectual waste)

Examples

  • 糟粕。
    Dú shū shí yào zhù yì fēn biàn jīng huá hé zāo pò.
    When reading, pay attention to distinguishing the essence from the dross.
  • 糟粕。
    Zhè xiē fēng jiàn zāo pò zǎo jiù gāi bèi táo tài le.
    These feudal dregs should have been eliminated long ago.
  • ，糟粕。
    Wǒ men yào shàn yú xī shōu jīng huá, pāo qì zāo pò.
    We should be good at absorbing the absorbing the essence and discarding the dross.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

糟zāodregs
粕pòdregs

糟 and 粕 both refer to wine dregs, so together they mean worthless residue.

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
米米mǐ
Sound part声符shēngfú
曹
曹cáo糟zāo
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

糟 pairs 米 (rice) with 曹, which gives its sound; the rice side points to liquor made from fermented rice, originally meaning unfiltered.

Open 糟 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 粕 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

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