劾

hé
verb

Meanings

  1. 1 to impeach
  2. 2 to charge an official with wrongdoing

Examples

HSK 5
Zǒngtǒng zāo guóhuì tánhé.
The president was impeached by the legislature.
HSK 7-9
Yùshǐ shàng shū hé tā tānwū.
The censor submitted a memorial impeaching him for corruption.

Tips

usage
Rarely stands alone in modern Chinese, almost always part of the compound 弹劾 ('to impeach'). The bare 劾 survives in literary or historical writing about imperial censors 御史 submitting impeachment memorials to the throne.
memory
劾 = 亥 (the pig zodiac, used phonetically) + 力 (force). Force aimed at exposing wrongdoing, that's an impeachment.

Components

radical
力 lì
strength; force
Right side 力 is the indexing radical, picturing a flexed muscle or a plough. It files 劾 with 加 (add), 助 (aid), 努 (strive). To impeach an official is to apply official force against him, the strength radical contributes the 'pressing-charges' sense behind 'to impeach'.
phonetic
亥 hài
12th earthly branch; pig
Left side 亥 supplies the sound, hài shifted to hé in this reading. The 'pig; final branch' meaning is dormant here. The same phonetic series produces 该 (ought), 孩 (child), 骸 (skeleton), all sharing this root with various tones and meanings unrelated to pigs.

Stroke Order

劾 hé