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淬

cuì
verb #84,594

Meanings

  1. 1 to quench-harden (heated metal by plunging it into water)
  2. 2 to temper; to toughen through trials

Examples

铁匠把烧红的刀刃淬入水中。
Tiějiàng bǎ shāohóng de dāorèn cuì rù shuǐ zhōng.
The smith plunged the red-hot blade into water to harden it.
苦难淬炼人，使人像淬过的钢一样坚韧。
Kǔnàn cuìliàn rén, shǐ rén xiàng cuì guò de gāng yíyàng jiānrèn.
Hardship tempers a person, making them tough as quenched steel.

Tips

usage
A metalworking term: rapidly cooling red-hot steel in water (or oil) to make it hard. Common in 淬火 ('quench-hardening') and the figurative 淬炼 ('to temper through trials').

Components

radical
氵 sāndiǎnshuǐ
water (left-side form of 水)
The water radical, side form of 水. It is literal: quench-hardening means dunking glowing metal into water, so the action centers on water.
phonetic
卒 zú
soldier; to finish
Supplies the sound. Standalone 卒 reads zú; here the reading shifts to cuì. It is the phonetic element, carrying no meaning to the quenching.

Stroke Order

淬 cuì