撤

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. 撤 has an organized, deliberate feel, unlike 逃 (flee in panic).

Components

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

Stroke Order

撤 chè