摧

cuī

verb #21,713

Meanings

1 to destroy
2 to break
3 to devastate
4 to crush

Characters

摧

cuī

to destroy / to break / to devastate

Examples

狂风摧折了树木，满地狼藉。

Kuángfēng cuī zhé le shùmù, mǎn dì lángjí.

The fierce wind destroyed the trees, leaving the ground in chaos.

坚不可摧的意志使他度过了重重困难。

Jiānbùkěcuī de yìzhì shǐ tā dùguò le chóngchóng kùnnan.

His indestructible will carried him through countless hardships.

Tips

usage

摧 is largely classical/literary and rarely stands alone in modern Chinese. It appears in set phrases: 坚不可摧 (indestructible), 无坚不摧 (able to overcome any obstacle), and 摧毁 (cuīhuǐ, the common modern word for 'to destroy').

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand (radical form of 手)

Side-hand radical on the left — marks 摧 as a forceful hand-action verb. 摧 names the act of breaking, smashing, or destroying with applied force, putting it alongside 推 (push), 拆 (tear down), 撕 (rip). The hand radical sets up the violent physicality of the verb the moment you see the character.

phonetic

崔 cuī

high; surname Cui (here phonetic)

Right 崔 supplies the sound — cuī = cuī, identical reading. 崔 depicts a mountain 山 over a short-tailed bird 隹, originally 'high, towering.' The 'towering' image is a memory hook for 摧: a hand smashing down on something tall, toppling what stood high. Same phonetic feeds 催 (urge), both cuī readings.

Stroke Order

摧 cuī

摧