HSK 6 · Verbs

破例 pòlì “to make an exception” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 破例 means

  1. to make an exception

How to say 破例

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale破pò4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale例lì4th tone, falling

破例 in a sentence

  1. 我不能破例。

    Wǒ bùnéng pòlì.

    I can’t make an exception.

    Sentence #6832183 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 破例 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.

The character 例 (lì) with each of its parts in a different colour
例lìexample
  • 亻person form of 人 · rénMeaning part
  • 列a line · lièSound part

亻 hints at the meaning (person); 列 (liè) hints at the sound. Compare it with lì.

How to write 破例

破 10 strokes · 例 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 破例

Words with 破

破pò · broken破坏pòhuài · to destroy破产pòchǎn · to go bankrupt突破tūpò · to break through

Words with 例

例如lìrú · for example比例bǐlì · proportion案例ànlì · case惯例guànlì · convention例外lìwài · exception

More words: Common Verbs

飘扬piāoyáng · to flutter拼搏pīnbó · to struggle hard拼命pīnmìng · desperately泼pō · to splash扑pū · to pounce on铺pū · to spread普及pǔjí · to popularise掐qiā · to pinch

FAQs

破例 (pòlì) means “to make an exception”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it pòlì: pò with a 4th tone, then lì with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 破例 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type poli with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 破例 from the suggestions. Typing poli into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
破例 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.