(xiāo) — to pare, to peel (fruit), to sharpen (a pencil); to remove, to delete (a name or item); to reduce, to cut down (costs, staff, etc.)

Definition

削 (xiāo) is the everyday physical verb for paring/peeling (fruit) or sharpening (a pencil), separate from the abstract 'reduce' sense in 削减. Use 删 for deleting text, 剥 for peeling more forcefully.

verb
to pareto peel (fruit)to sharpen (a pencil)to removeto delete (a name or item)to reduceto cut down (costs, staff, etc.)

Examples

  • Nǐ néng bāng wǒ xiāo gè lí ma?
    Can you help me peel a pear?
  • Shāng diàn xiāo jià cù xiāo.
    The store cut prices to promote sales.
  • Tā bǎ nà yí duàn wén zì cóng wén zhāng lǐ xiāo qù le.
    He deleted that paragraph from the article.

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