HSK 6 · Verbs

断绝 duànjué “to break off” in Chinese

Traditional 斷絕

What 断绝 means

  1. to break off
  2. to sever

How to say 断绝

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale断duàn4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale绝jué2nd tone, rising

断绝 in a sentence

  1. 他跟他们干脆地断绝来往了。

    Tā gēn tāmen gāncuì de duànjué láiwǎng le.

    He made a clean break with them.

    Sentence #5595117 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 断绝 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 断 (duàn) drawn as one shape
断duànto break

断 is a single shape of 11 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

The character 绝 (jué) with each of its parts in a different colour
绝juéto cut short
  • 纟silk form of 糸 · mìMeaning part
  • 色colour · sèSound part

纟 hints at the meaning (silk); 色 (sè) hints at the sound. Compare it with jué.

How to write 断绝

断 11 strokes · 绝 9 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

断绝 (duànjué) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 断绝 (duànjué). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 断绝

Words with 断

判断pànduàn · to judge断duàn · to break诊断zhěnduàn · to diagnose不断búduàn · unceasing断定duàndìng · to conclude中断zhōngduàn · to interrupt果断guǒduàn · decisive垄断lǒngduàn · monopoly片断piànduàn · fragment

Words with 绝

拒绝jùjué · to refuse绝对juéduì · absolute谢绝xièjué · to politely decline杜绝dùjué · to put an end to绝望juéwàng · to despair滔滔不绝tāotāobùjué · to talk non-stop空前绝后kōngqiánjuéhòu · unprecedented and unrepeatable络绎不绝luòyìbùjué · in an endless stream

More words: Common Verbs

盯dīng · to stare at动手dòngshǒu · to start work东张西望dōngzhāngxīwàng · to look around in all directions端duān · to carry (level with both hands)对付duìfu · to deal with堆积duījī · to pile up对抗duìkàng · to resist杜绝dùjué · to put an end to

FAQs

断绝 (duànjué) means “to break off” or “to sever”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it duànjué: duàn with a 4th tone, then jué with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 断绝 is written 斷絕. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type duanjue with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 断绝 from the suggestions. Typing duanjue into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
断绝 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.