断 (duàn) · to break; to snap; to sever

Meanings

1 to break; to snap; to sever
2 to cut off; to disconnect
3 to judge; to decide

Characters

断

duàn

to break; to cut off; to judge

Examples

HSK 6

网断了，上不了网。

Wǎng duàn le, shàng bù liǎo wǎng.

The internet is down, can't get online.

HSK 7-9

绳子断了。

Shéngzi duàn le.

The rope broke.

HSK 7-9

你不能断定他说的是假话。

Nǐ bùnéng duàndìng tā shuō de shì jiǎhuà.

You can't conclude that what he said is a lie.

Tips

usage

断 is used in many compounds: 打断 (to interrupt), 判断 (to judge), 中断 (to interrupt/suspend), 断定 (to conclude), 不断 (continuously).

usage

不断 (bùduàn) means 'continuously/unceasingly' - literally 'not breaking.' Very common adverb.

Components

radical

斤 jīn

axe; catty

Right side 斤 is the indexing radical - an axe blade with handle. The whole character pictures an axe chopping through bound strands, exactly fitting the core meanings: to break, sever, decide (a judge cuts through the case). Same radical in 新 new (originally a fresh-cut), 析 analyse (split wood), 折 fold/snap.

semantic

米 mǐ

rice; grain

Left side is a 米-shape fused with a small enclosing stroke at top-left into a six-stroke unit. Historically the left side of 斷 was a tangle-of-silk-threads-being-severed graph; the 1956 reform redrew this as 米 plus the corner hook. Standalone 米 normally means rice, but here it carries the cut-bundle imagery directly.