裂 (liè): to split, to crack

裂 (liè) is a Chinese character meaning “to split, to crack.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 列 (phonetic) and 衣 (semantic). It ranks #1309 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 裂 cloth. Its radical form 衤 (clothing) appears in many related characters such as 衣 (yī, clothing), 表 (biǎo, exterior surface), 装 (zhuāng, dress, install).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to split, to crack

Etymology & Origin

裂

pictophoneticcloth

Decomposition: ⿱列衣 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

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

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
裂缝nounliè fèngcrack
分裂verbfēn lièto split up
破裂verbpò lièto burst
撕裂verbsī lièto tear
裂开verbliè kāito split open
裂痕nounliè héncrack
断裂verbduàn lièfracture
爆裂verbbào lièto rupture
裂口nounliè kǒubreach
碎裂verbsuì lièto disintegrate
决裂verbjué lièto rupture
身败名裂phraseshēn bài míng lièto lose one's standing
裂纹nounliè wéncrack
裂变verbliè biàn(physics) to undergo nuclear fission
开裂verbkāi lièto split open
94
Total compounds
26
As first character
50
As last character
24
As middle character

裂 appears in 94 compound words: 26 as the first character, 50 as the last, and 24 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 裂 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

禀bǐng
0.63110 co-occurrences
撕sī
0.5924,904 co-occurrences
缝féng
0.5662,711 co-occurrences
痕hén
0.5522,858 co-occurrences
破pò
0.54312,814 co-occurrences
断duàn
0.5235,880 co-occurrences
分fēn
0.51946,328 co-occurrences
隙xì
0.4641,087 co-occurrences
韧rèn
0.458296 co-occurrences
迸bèng
0.455104 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (10)

减数分裂jiǎnshù fēnlièHSK 7+

meiosis

noun
身败名裂shēnbàimínglièHSK 7+

to lose one's status and have one's reputation destroyed

phrase
四分五裂sìfēnwǔlièHSK 7+

to be rent by disunity; to disintegrate

phrase
天崩地裂tiān bēng dì lièHSK 7+

heaven falls and earth rends (idiom); rocked by a major disaster; fig. violent revolution; major social upheaval

phrase
歪瓜裂枣wāiguālièzǎoHSK 7+

a group of unattractive people (or objects)

phrase
无丝分裂wúsī fēnlièHSK 7+

amitosis

noun
细胞分裂xìbāo fēnlièHSK 7+

cell division

noun
心胆俱裂xīndǎnjùlièHSK 7+

to be frightened out of one's wits; to be terrorstricken

phrase
有丝分裂yǒusī fēnlièHSK 7+

mitosis

noun
发指眦裂fà zhǐ zì lièHSK 7+

hair standing up and eyes wide in anger (idiom); enraged; in a towering rage

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

墙壁出现裂缝,需要及时修补,否则会越来越严重。

Qiángbì chūxiàn lièfèng, xūyào jíshí xiūbǔ, fǒuzé huì yuèláiyuè yánzhòng.

Cracks have appeared in the wall; they need to be repaired promptly, otherwise they will become more serious.

Ein PresswireFeb 2026

市场泡沫破裂后黄金RWA崛起:维塔金为何在熊市中脱颖...

shì chǎng pāo mò pò liè hòu huáng jīn R W A jué qǐ : wéi tǎ jīn wéi hé zài xióng shì zhōng tuō yǐng . . .

The rise of gold RWA after the bursting of the market bubble: why did Vita Gold stand out in the bear market...

新西兰中文先驱网Feb 2026

...兰航空客机在飞行途中发现,挡风玻璃突然开裂!

. . . lán háng kōng kè jī zài fēi háng tú zhōng fā xiàn , dǎng fēng bō lí tū rán kāi liè !

... The Lan Airlines passenger plane found that the windshield suddenly cracked during the flight!

EttodayFeb 2026

...7歲男健身突胸痛腫脹 竟是罕見「胸大肌斷裂」

. . . 歲 nán jiàn shēn tū xiōng tòng 腫 脹 jìng shì hǎn 見 xiōng dà jī 斷 liè

7-year-old boy experiences chest pain and swelling during a workout; it turns out to be a rare pectoral muscle rupture.

StheadlineFeb 2026

...稟申請破產 懶理兒子風流事母子關係徹底決裂

. . . 稟 shēn 請 pò 產 懶 lǐ 兒 zǐ 風 liú shì mǔ zǐ 關 係 徹 de 決 liè

Filed for bankruptcy, ignoring her son's womanizing ways—mother-son relationship completely severed.

三立新聞網Feb 2026

大黃狗遭3樓丟下!肝臟碎裂 民眾救援心疼

dà 黃 gǒu zāo 樓 丟 xià ! gān 臟 suì liè mín 眾 jiù yuán xīn téng

Yellow dog thrown from 3rd floor! Liver Shattered, Citizen Rescue Heartbreaking

Tatoeba

一条主要水管被地震震裂了。

Yī tiáo zhǔyào shuǐguǎn bèi dìzhèn zhèn liè le.

The water mains burst due to the earthquake.

Tatoeba

仔细检查后发现,该头骨被重击碎裂。

Zǐxì jiǎnchá hòu fāxiàn, gāi tóugǔ bèi zhòngjī suìliè.

After careful examination, it can be seen that the skull was smashed to pieces.

Tatoeba

水从破裂的水管倾泻而出。

Shuǐ cóng pòliè de shuǐguǎn qīngxiè ér chū.

Water poured from the broken pipe.

Tatoeba

每年冬天,我的嘴唇都会干裂。

Měinián dōngtiān, wǒ de zuǐchún dōu huì gānliè.

I get chapped lips every winter.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 衣 (cloth) component

衤 Radical Family — Characters sharing the clothing radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced liè

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 裂 (liè) mean in Chinese?
裂 (liè) primarily means "to split, to crack." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1309 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 裂 and 例?
裂 (liè) and 例 (lì) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 衤 vs 亻 (same 列 component).
How many strokes does 裂 have?
裂 is written with 12 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 裂?
The radical associated with 裂 is 衤 (clothing). This radical appears in many characters related to clothing.
What are the components of 裂?
裂 is composed of: 列 (phonetic), 衣 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱列衣 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 裂?
Common words with 裂 include: 裂缝 (liè fèng, "crack"); 分裂 (fēn liè, "to split up"); 破裂 (pò liè, "to burst"); 撕裂 (sī liè, "to tear"); 裂开 (liè kāi, "to split open"). There are over 94 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 裂 (liè)?
Several characters share the pronunciation liè: 烈 (intense, fierce), 咧 (to draw back the corners of one's mouth), 列 (to arrange), 猎 (hunting), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 裂 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 裂 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 裂 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.