破 (pò): break

破 (pò) is a Chinese character meaning “break.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 石 (semantic) and 皮 (phonetic). It ranks #604 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 破 rock. Its radical form 石 (stone) appears in many related characters such as 确 (què, certain, true), 碗 (wǎn, bowl), 碰 (pèng, to touch, to bump).

Native pronunciation

HSK 4 Radical: 石 stone10 strokesFrequency #604石 semantic 皮 phonetic

Definitions

break

Etymology & Origin

破

pictophoneticrock

Decomposition: ⿰石皮 (layout: left-right)

Components:石semantic 皮phonetic

Stroke Order

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 破

Word	Pinyin	Meaning	HSK
破坏verb	pò huài	destruction	5
打破verb	dǎ pò	to break	5
破产verb	pò chǎn	to go bankrupt	6
突破verb	tū pò	to break through	6

Common Compounds

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
破案	pò àn	to solve a criminal case
破裂	pò liè	to burst
破烂	pò làn	worn-out
拿破仑	ná pò lún	variant of 拿破崙\|拿破仑[Na2 po4 lun2]
破碎	pò suì	to smash to pieces
爆破	bào pò	to blow up
破解	pò jiě	to break (a bond, constraint etc)
破灭	pò miè	to be shattered
破译	pò yì	to decipher
识破	shí pò	to penetrate
破损	pò sǔn	to become damaged
侦破	zhēn pò	to investigate (as detective)
破例	pò lì	to make an exception
破旧	pò jiù	shabby
冲破	chōng pò	breakthrough

100

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

破 appears in 100 compound words: 64 as the first character, 31 as the last, and 5 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 破 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

坏huài

0.771144,618 co-occurrences

突tū

0.658171,293 co-occurrences

裂liè

0.54738,454 co-occurrences

碎suì

0.53422,962 co-occurrences

打dǎ

0.532127,050 co-occurrences

拿ná

0.51349,620 co-occurrences

斤jīn

0.44610 co-occurrences

严yán

0.44316,836 co-occurrences

戳chuō

0.4391,518 co-occurrences

劫jié

0.43410 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (24)

不攻自破bùgōngzìpòHSK 6+

to collapse of itself (of a rumor, etc.); to be discredited

phrase

乘风破浪chéngfēngpòlàngHSK 4+

to fearlessly and steadfastly pursue a goal without regard to setbacks

phrase

颠扑不破diān pū bù pòHSK 7+

solid; unbreakable; (fig.) irrefutable; incontrovertible; indisputable

phrase

跌破眼镜diē pò yǎn jìngHSK 6+

(fig.) to be astounded

phrase

国破家亡guópòjiāwángHSK 6+

the country perishes or is devastated and families are divided

phrase

家破人亡jiāpòrénwángHSK 6+

family befallen by disaster

phrase

破败不堪pò bài bù kānHSK 7+

crushed; utterly defeated

phrase

破财免灾kǒuzhào shíqīHSK 6+

a financial loss may prevent disaster

phrase

破胆寒心pò dǎn hán xīnHSK 5+

to be scared out of one's wits

phrase

破罐破摔pò guàn pò shuāiHSK 6+

to allow things to worsen even if you know there are faults or mistakes

phrase

破口大骂pòkǒudàmàHSK 5+

to shout abuse; to let loose a torrent of abuse; to curse loud and long

verb

破涕为笑pòtìwéixiàoHSK 7+

to turn from weeping to smiling, usually depicting a change in one's emotional state from being sad to being happy

phrase

Showing 12 of 24 idioms containing 破.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个记录被打破了，新的纪录比原来快了两秒。

Zhè gè jìlù bèi dǎpò le, xīn de jìlù bǐ yuánlái kuài le liǎng miǎo.

This record was broken; the new record is two seconds faster than the original.

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

(米兰冬奥会)惊喜与突破交织中国冰雪向新而行

( mǐ lán dōng ào huì ) jīng xǐ yǔ tū pò jiāo zhī zhōng guó bīng xuě xiàng xīn ér háng

(Milan Winter Olympics) Surprises and breakthroughs are intertwined, and China's ice and snow are moving towards the new

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

...BLACKPINK官方YouTube订户破亿艺人创举

. . . B L A C K P I N K guān fāng Y o u T u b e dìng hù pò yì yì rén chuàng jǔ

... BLACKPINK's official YouTube subscribers exceeded 100 million, an artist's initiative

百度新闻Feb 2026

大看台|从郑钦文到宁忠岩:冲破欧美垄断镌刻东方印..

dà kàn tái cóng zhèng qīn wén dào nìng zhōng yán : chōng pò ōu měi lǒng duàn 镌 kè dōng fāng yìn . .

From Zheng Qinwen to Ning Zhongyan: Breaking through the monopoly of Europe and the United States and engraved the Oriental Seal:

百度新闻Feb 2026

冬奥会|全天综合:中国速滑再迎突破中井亚美领跑花..

dōng ào huì quán tiān zèng gě zhōng guó sù huá zài yíng tū pò zhōng jǐng yà měi lǐng pǎo huā . .

Winter Olympics|All Day Roundup: China's speed skating breaks through again as Ami Nakai leads the way in flower...

百度新闻Feb 2026

永定河山峡段4座梯级水电站累计发电破100亿千瓦时

yǒng dìng hé shān xiá duàn zuò tī jí shuǐ diàn zhàn lěi jì fā diàn pò yì qiān wǎ shí

Cumulative power generation from the four cascade hydropower stations along the mountainous section of the Yongding River surpasses 10 billion kilowatt-hours.

Tatoeba

是杰克打破窗户的吗?

Shì Jiékè dǎpò chuānghu de ma?

Was it Jack that broke the window?

Tatoeba

我们必须设法打破这个僵局。

Wǒmen bìxū shèfǎ dǎpò zhège jiāngjú.

We must try to break the deadlock.

Tatoeba

强盗似乎是在上层破窗而入的。

Qiáng dào sìhū shì zài shàngcéng pò chuāng ér rù de.

It seems that the burglar broke in through an upstairs window.

Tatoeba

昆虫破蛹而出变成成虫。

Kūnchóng pòyǒng ér chū biànchéng chéngchóng.

The insect grew out of a pupa into an imago.

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 破 (pò) mean in Chinese?

破 (pò) primarily means "break." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #604 in character frequency.

What's the difference between 破 and 波?

破 (pò) and 波 (bō) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 石 vs 氵 (same 皮 component).

How many strokes does 破 have?

破 is written with 10 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 破?

The radical associated with 破 is 石 (stone). This radical appears in many characters related to stone.

What are the components of 破?

破 is composed of: 石 (semantic), 皮 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰石皮 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 破?

Common words with 破 include: 破坏 (pò huài, "destruction"); 打破 (dǎ pò, "to break"); 破产 (pò chǎn, "to go bankrupt"); 突破 (tū pò, "to break through"); 破案 (pò àn, "to solve a criminal case"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.

What characters sound the same as 破 (pò)?

Several characters share the pronunciation pò: 坡 (slope), 颇 (Taiwan pr.), 泼 (to splash), 婆 (grandmother). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.

Is 破 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

Yes, 破 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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破 (pò): break

Definitions

Etymology & Origin

Stroke Order

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 破

Common Compounds

Strongest Collocations

Idioms & Chengyu (24)

Example Sentences

Character Family

石 Radical Family — Characters sharing the stone radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced pò

Frequently Asked Questions

Practice writing 破 with real-time feedback