verb

Meanings

  1. 1 to slander; to defame; to vilify

Examples

HSK 6
Tā de duìshǒu zài bàozhǐ shàng dǐhuǐ tā.
His rival smeared him in the newspapers.
HSK 7-9
Bùyào bèihòu dǐhuǐ biérén de réngé.
Don't slander other people's character behind their backs.

Tips

usage
Almost always 诋毁 ('to slander / smear') - to deliberately attack someone's reputation with false or malicious words. Compare 诽谤 (to defame), which is closer to the legal sense.

Components

radical
yán
speech (left-side radical)
Speech radical on the left, side-form of . It marks an act of words - here malicious, defaming speech. Same family as to defame, to slander, to mock.
phonetic
base; foundation (an ancient ethnic name)
Right side supplies the sound (dī to dǐ). Same phonetic in low and bottom; here it lends only its reading.

Stroke Order