解放 (jiě fàng) — to liberate; to emancipate | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Used for freeing people, countries, or minds from political/ideological control (e.g. 被解放军, 解放思想). 释放 is for releasing a person or animal from confinement, or discharging physical things like gas or pressure.

verb

to liberateto emancipate

Measure word · 次

Examples

解放，。
Wǒ men xū yào jiě fàng sī xiǎng, jiē shòu xīn guān niàn.
We need to liberate our thinking and accept new ideas.
解放。
Zhè ge guó jiā de rén mín zhōng yú bèi jiě fàng le.
The people of this country were finally liberated.
，解放。
Zhàn zhēng jié shù hòu, xǔ duō chéng shì bèi jiě fàng le.
After the war ended, many cities were liberated.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

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

放fàngrelease

解 means to loosen, and 放 means to release, giving the sense of liberating.

Characters in this word

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

角刀牛解

角角jiǎohorn
刀刀dāoknife
牛牛niúcow

解 shows 刀 (knife) separating 角 (horn) from 牛 (cow), giving the picture of cutting up an ox.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

方攵放

Meaning part形符xíngfú

攵Written in full as攴pūhand, action

Sound part声符shēngfú

方

方fāng放fàng

Same sound today

放 uses 方 for its sound and 攵, a hand/action part, to mark an action of release.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 6 HSK 2.0 Level 5 Government & Politics 5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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