除 (chú): to remove; to get rid of

Meanings

1 to remove; to get rid of
2 to divide (math)
3 except; besides; apart from

Characters

除

chú

to remove; except

Examples

除了他，大家都来了。

Chúle tā, dàjiā dōu lái le.

Everyone came except him.

十除以二等于五。

Shí chúyǐ èrděng yú wǔ.

Ten divided by two equals five.

除夕夜一家人团圆。

Chúxīyè yījiārén tuányuán.

The whole family reunites on New Year's Eve.

Tips

grammar

除了...以外 is a key pattern: 除了...以外，都... (except for X, all...) or 除了...以外，还/也... (in addition to X, also...). Context determines which meaning applies.

Components

radical

阝 fù

mound; hill (left-side form of 阜)

Mound radical on the left — 阝 on the LEFT is 阜 (hill, earthwork); on the right it would be 邑 (city), so position matters. The original 除 meant the stone steps cut into a hill or palace mound, hence 'remove/clear away' (clearing the steps). Joins the hillside-and-terrace family: 阴, 阳, 险, 阶.

phonetic

余 yú

I; surplus (here phonetic)

Right component supplies the sound, yú → chú with significant initial drift. 余 was originally a roof-with-stilts pictograph that loaned itself to the first-person pronoun and 'remainder'. As a phonetic it also drives 涂 tú (smear) and 途 tú (route) — the Mandarin reflexes spread but the y/t/ch alternation traces back to one Old-Chinese rime.