chè
verb HSK 7-9 #4,720

Meanings

  1. 1 to remove
  2. 2 to withdraw

Examples

HSK 6
Gōngsī juédìng chèxiāo zhèxiàng juédìng.
The company decided to revoke this decision.
HSK 7-9
Jūnduì cóng qiánxiàn chètuì.
The army retreated from the front line.
HSK 7-9
Qǐng bǎ wǎn kuài chè xiàqù.
Please clear away the dishes.

Tips

usage
撤退 (retreat), 撤销 (revoke), 撤离 (evacuate) - all involve pulling something away. has an organized, deliberate feel, unlike (flee in panic).

Components

radical
shǒu
hand (radical form)
Left indexing radical (hand-variant of ) - supplies the active sense. Withdrawing, removing, and clearing away are all hand actions. Distinguishes from its sister character (chè, thorough), which uses (step) instead - withdrawing-by-hand vs. going-all-the-way.
phonetic
to nurture (here phonetic-stylised)
Middle component takes the silhouette and serves as the sound-component for chè. Same phonetic family includes (thorough) and (clear water). The reading drifted historically; modern learners are best off treating this as a phonetic marker rather than analyzing the inner shape.
semantic
to strike; action (radical form)
Right component (strike-variant of ) - adds the sense of forceful, deliberate action. Many action verbs carry on the right: (collect), (change), (rescue), (teach). Together with on the left, the character is doubly action-marked: hand pulls, action enforces.

Stroke Order

chè