xiè
verb HSK 7-9 #7,335

Meanings

  1. 1 to unload
  2. 2 to remove
  3. 3 to take off (equipment)

Examples

Gōngrén men zhèngzài xièhuò.
The workers are unloading goods.
Tā xièxià le shēnshang de zhòngdàn.
He took the heavy burden off his shoulders.

Tips

usage
is used for unloading physical items (卸货) and figuratively for removing burdens (卸下重担). Also used for uninstalling software: 卸载 (xiè zài).
memory
contains (stop) and (kneeling person) - think of a kneeling person stopping to unload their pack.

Components

radical
jié
kneeling person
on the right is the indexing radical, a stylised side view of a person kneeling. It places in the family of , , and — words that turn on bending, settling, or laying down, exactly what unloading does.
semantic
noon; horse hour
at the upper-left is a contracted form (3 strokes here vs 4 standalone). It originally pictured a pestle but here stands in for the horse-time portion of an older graph showing harness being lifted off an animal at midday.
semantic
zhǐ
stop; foot
below depicts a foot and contributes the sense of halting and standing still. Together with above, it suggests a rider dismounting and stopping the journey, the motion that names when applied to cargo or duties.

Stroke Order

xiè