About
The character 败, historically written in its traditional form as 敗, is structurally based on the component 貝, which originally represented cowrie shells used as currency and thus signifies value or assets, combined with 攵, a variant form denoting a striking or destructive action. This combination conceptually illustrated the damaging of wealth, which gave rise to its early meanings centered on loss, defeat, or ruin, particularly in martial contexts. Subsequently, its semantic scope expanded beyond material deprivation to include broader notions of failure in endeavors, as well as processes of decay and spoilage in both physical and moral realms, thereby encompassing ideas like corruption or deterioration while maintaining its core linkage to the negation of something held as valuable.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
失败并不可怕。
我们队打败了对手。
他在比赛中败给了经验更丰富的选手。
政府决心打击腐败现象。
他真是个败家子。
这幅画的配色是唯一的败笔。
面对已定的败局，他依然保持着风度。
敌军在猛烈攻势下全线败退。