废

廢/癈

fèi

发 + 广

HSK 3.0Level 7

Definitions

fèi (verb) to abolish; to abandon; to discard

fèi (adjective) waste; useless

fèi (adjective) disabled; crippled

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. 广 represents the meaning and 发 represents the sound. Simplified form of 廢.

Phonetic: 发

About

废 is the simplified form of 廢, a phono-semantic compound. The radical 广, which depicts a building or shelter, wraps around the top and left of the character and suggests a structure or dwelling. The inner component 发 (simplified from the traditional phonetic 發) indicates the sound. Originally, the character described a collapsed or ruined building. From this literal sense of structural decay, it came to mean abandoning a practice, abolishing a rule, or describing something as useless, discarded, or devoid of function.

Etymology Hide

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

别再说废话了。

Bié zài shuō fèi huà le.

Stop talking nonsense.

这个废物没用。

Zhège fèi wù méi yòng.

This waste is useless.

请把废纸扔进垃圾桶。

Qǐng bǎ fèi zhǐ rēng jìn lājī tǒng.

Please throw the waste paper into the trash can.

政府废除了旧法律。

Zhèngfǔ fèi chú le jiù fǎlǜ.

The government abolished the old law.

工厂废弃了旧设备。

Gōngchǎng fèi qì le jiù shèbèi.

The factory discarded the old equipment.

这些废品可以回收利用。

Zhèxiē fèi pǐn kěyǐ huíshōu lìyòng.

These waste products can be recycled.

处理工业废料需要小心。

Chǔlǐ gōngyè fèi liào xūyào xiǎoxīn.

Handling industrial waste requires care.

由于经济原因，项目被废除了。

Yóuyú jīngjì yuányīn, xiàngmù bèi fèi chú le.

Due to economic reasons, the project was abolished.

Related Characters

Component: 发

Component: 广

废