HSK 4 · Verbs

破 pò “broken” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 破 means

  1. broken
  2. damaged
  3. worn out
  4. lousy
  5. rotten
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to break, split or cleave

How to say 破

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale破pò4th tone, falling

破 in a sentence

  1. 我的牛仔裤破了。

    Wǒ de niúzǎikù pò le.

    My jeans are torn.

    Sentence #10320609 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  2. 你的袜子破了一个洞呀。

    Nǐ de wàzi pò le yí ge dòng ya.

    There’s a hole in your sock.

    Sentence #8593083 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 桃子的皮很容易破。

    Táozi de pí hěn róngyì pò.

    Peach skin breaks easily.

    Sentence #13539457 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 破 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 破 (pò) with each of its parts in a different colour
破pòbroken
  • 石stone · shíMeaning part
  • 皮skin · píSound part

石 hints at the meaning (stone); 皮 (pí) hints at the sound. Compare it with pò.

How to write 破

破 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 破

Words with 破

破坏pòhuài · to destroy破产pòchǎn · to go bankrupt破例pòlì · to make an exception突破tūpò · to break through

More words: Common Verbs

排队páiduì · to line up排列páiliè · to arrange in order陪péi · to accompany骗piàn · to cheat敲qiāo · to hit轻qīng · light取qǔ · to take缺少quēshǎo · lack

FAQs

破 (pò) means “broken” or “damaged”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it pò: pò with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 破 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type po with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 破 from the suggestions. Typing po into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
破 is an HSK 4 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.