(cuī): to break, to destroy, to devastate

(cuī) is a Chinese character meaning “to break.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2118 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, hand. Its radical form (hand) appears in many related characters such as (shǒu, hand), (, hit, make), (zhǎo, to look for).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to break
  2. to destroy
  3. to devastate

Etymology & Origin

pictophonetichand

Decomposition: ⿰扌崔 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
cuī huǐto destroy
cuī cánto ravage
jiān bù kě cuī(idiom) invulnerable
wú jiān bù cuīno stronghold one cannot overcome (idiom)
lán cuī yù zhépremature death of a budding talent
bēi cuīgrieved
bēng cuīto collapse
7
Total compounds
29
As first character
57
As last character
14
As middle character

appears in 7 compound words: 29 as the first character, 57 as the last, and 14 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

huǐ
0.79061,999 co-occurrences
chè
0.4742,124 co-occurrences
cán
0.4552,526 co-occurrences
bèi
0.42931,631 co-occurrences
xiǔ
0.397348 co-occurrences
zhà
0.3952,634 co-occurrences
le
0.39420,076 co-occurrences
de
0.3834,074 co-occurrences
pào
0.3792,352 co-occurrences
0.378354 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

jiānbùkěcuīHSK 7+

extremely firm; indestructible; impregnable

phrase
lán cuī yù zhéHSK 7+

premature death of a budding talent; those whom the Gods love die young

phrase
wújiānbùcuīHSK 7+

to overrun all fortifications; to carry all before one; to be all-conquering

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

起袖子,开始认真地打扫房间。

tā cuī qǐ xiù zǐ , kāi shǐ rèn zhēn dì dǎ sǎo fáng jiān .

He rolled up his sleeves and began cleaning the room thoroughly.

UdnnewsindexMar 2026

内塔尼亚胡:伊朗正被彻底

nèi tǎ ní yà hú : yī lǎng zhèng bèi chè de cuī huǐ

Netanyahu: Iran is being completely destroyed

NewtalkMar 2026

...LNG设施 川普呛:“再犯”将遭前所未见

. . . L N G shè shī chuān pǔ qiàng : zài fàn jiāng zāo qián suǒ wèi jiàn cuī huǐ

...LNG facilities: Trump warns, "Another violation" will result in unprecedented destruction

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...坏柬埔寨声誉” 总理洪马内:诈骗中心正在毁柬埔寨的经济

. . . huài jiǎn 埔 zhài shēng yù zǒng lǐ hóng mǎ nèi : zhà piàn zhōng xīn zhèng zài cuī huǐ jiǎn 埔 zhài de jīng jì

... Bad Cambodia's reputation" Prime Minister Hun Manet: The fraud center is destroying Cambodia's economy

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

最高法:缅北明家、白家两大犯罪集团被彻底

zuì gāo fǎ : miǎn běi míng jiā , bái jiā liǎng dà fàn zuì jí tuán bèi chè de cuī huǐ

Supreme People's Court: The two major criminal groups of the Ming family and the Bai family in northern Myanmar were completely destroyed

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

伊朗在该国东南部毁一恐怖组织团伙

yī lǎng zài gāi guó dōng nán bù cuī huǐ yī kǒng bù zǔ zhī tuán huǒ

Iran destroyed a terrorist group in the southeast of the country

Tatoeba

小镇被暴风雨后的洪水毁了。

Xiǎozhèn bèi bàofēngyǔ hòu de hóngshuǐ cuīhuǐ le.

The town was destroyed by the flood after the storm.

Tatoeba

恶魔毁了广岛和长崎。

èmó cuīhuǐ le Guǎngdǎo hé Chángqí.

The devil destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Tatoeba

无数次的失败毁了他的雄心壮志。

Wúshù cì de shībài cuīhuǐ le tā de xióngxīn zhuàngzhì.

His ambition was blasted by these repeated failures.

Tatoeba

伦敦许多部份在十七世纪时被毁。

Lúndūn xǔduō bù fèn zài shíqī shìjì shí bèi cuīhuǐ.

Much of London was destroyed in the seventeenth century.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced cuī

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 摧 (cuī) mean in Chinese?
摧 (cuī) primarily means "to break." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2118 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 摧 have?
摧 is written with 14 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 摧?
The radical associated with 摧 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.
What are the components of 摧?
摧 is composed of: 扌 (semantic), 崔 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰扌崔 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 摧?
Common words with 摧 include: 摧毁 (cuī huǐ, "to destroy"); 摧残 (cuī cán, "to ravage"); 坚不可摧 (jiān bù kě cuī, "(idiom) invulnerable"); 无坚不摧 (wú jiān bù cuī, "no stronghold one cannot overcome (idiom)"); 兰摧玉折 (lán cuī yù zhé, "premature death of a budding talent"). There are over 7 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 摧 (cuī)?
Several characters share the pronunciation cuī: 催 (to urge), 脆 (brittle), 粹 (pure), 翠 (bluish-green). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 摧 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 摧 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.