削

xiāo, xuē

刂 + 肖

HSK 2.0Level 6

HSK 3.0Level 7

Definitions

xiāo (verb) to peel; to pare; to cut

xuē (verb) to reduce; to remove

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. 刂 represents the meaning and 肖 represents the sound.

Semantic: 刂 Phonetic: 肖

About

削 is a phono-semantic compound: the knife radical 刂 conveys the meaning (an action with a sharp blade), and 肖 (xiào) gives the sound. Its original sense is to pare, scrape, or whittle away the outer layers of a material. This concrete meaning extended to abstract reduction, weakening, cutting down, or stripping away intangible things like power, territory, or financial resources. The character is used in both literal crafting and figurative discussions of diminishment.

Etymology Hide

Seal Chu (Warring States: 475-221 BC)

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

我来削铅笔。

Wǒ lái xiāo qiānbǐ.

I will sharpen the pencil.

爸爸削苹果皮。

Bàba xiāo píngguǒ pí.

Dad peels the apple skin.

公司削减了开支。

Gōngsī xuējiǎn le kāizhī.

The company cut expenses.

这场战争削弱了经济。

Zhè chǎng zhànzhēng xuēruò le jīngjì.

This war weakened the economy.

他决定削发为僧。

Tā juédìng xuē fà wéi sēng.

He decided to shave his head and become a monk.

商店正在削价促销。

Shāngdiàn zhèngzài xuē jià cùxiāo.

The store is cutting prices for promotion.

政府计划削减不必要的预算。

Zhèngfǔ jìhuà xuējiǎn bù bìyào de yùsuàn.

The government plans to cut unnecessary budgets.

过度捕捞严重削弱了海洋生态系统。

Guòdù bǔlāo yánzhòng xuēruò le hǎiyáng shēngtài xìtǒng.

Overfishing has severely weakened the marine ecosystem.

Related Characters

Composed characters:

Component: 刂

Component: 肖

削