汰 (tài) · to discard, to eliminate, to weed out

Meanings

1 to discard
2 to eliminate
3 to weed out

Characters

汰

tài

to eliminate / wash out

Examples

HSK 5

这种旧设备早就该汰换了。

Zhèzhǒng jiù shèbèi zǎojiù gāi tài huàn le.

This kind of old equipment should have been replaced long ago.

HSK 6

比赛中实力差的选手会被淘汰。

Bǐsài zhōng shílì chà de xuǎnshǒu huì bèi táotài.

Weaker players will be eliminated during the competition.

Tips

usage

汰 almost never appears alone in modern Chinese. You'll meet it in compounds: 淘汰 (táotài, 'to eliminate / weed out' - the most common), 汰换 (tàihuàn, 'to replace / phase out'), 优胜劣汰 (yōushèng-liètài, 'survival of the fittest, lit. the superior wins, the inferior is weeded out').

memory

The 氵 (water) radical hints at the original sense: rinsing rice or grain to wash away the bad bits. From physical 'wash out' came metaphorical 'screen out / eliminate'.

Components

radical

氵 shuǐ

water (left-side form)

氵 is the water radical 水 in three-drop left-side form. It marks 汰 as a water action, grouping it with 洗 (wash), 流 (flow), and 滤 (filter) - washing away the unwanted is exactly what 汰 names.

phonetic

太 tài

too; excessive

太 supplies the reading tài directly with no shift. Its sense of excessive adds a faint flavor: to 汰 is to wash off the surplus, the too-much that the current carries downstream. Same phonetic appears in 态 (manner).