(pōu): to cut open, to analyze, Taiwan pr.

(pōu) is a Chinese character meaning “to cut open.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #2400 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, knife. Its radical form (knife) appears in many related characters such as (fēn, to divide), (bié, to leave), (dào, to reach).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to cut open
  2. to analyze
  3. Taiwan pr.

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticknife

Decomposition: ⿰咅刂 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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
jiě pōuto dissect (an animal)
pōu fù chǎncesarean birth
jiě pōu xuéanatomy
pōu xīto analyze
pōu fùto cut open the abdomen
pōu miànprofile
pōu gōng chǎnbirth by caesarean section
rén tǐ jiě pōu xuéhuman anatomy
dà tǐ jiě pōu xué(medicine) gross anatomy
rén tǐ jiě pōuhuman anatomy
xiǎn wēi jiě pōu xué(medicine) histology
pōu gōng chǎn shǒu shùcesarean section
gé léi shì jiě pōu xuéGray's Anatomy (medical reference book)
pōu fù chǎn shǒu shùcesarean section
pōu jiě túcutaway diagram
31
Total compounds
52
As first character
10
As last character
39
As middle character

appears in 31 compound words: 52 as the first character, 10 as the last, and 39 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.

jiě
0.60430,552 co-occurrences
0.5556,790 co-occurrences
0.5303,231 co-occurrences
shī
0.425552 co-occurrences
0.403252 co-occurrences
guān
0.388216 co-occurrences
xué
0.3877,560 co-occurrences
miàn
0.3766,594 co-occurrences
gòu
0.3601,542 co-occurrences
gān
0.353210 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

pōu fù cáng zhūHSK 7+

lit. cutting one's stomach to hide a pearl (idiom); fig. wasting a lot of effort on trivialities

phrase
xī háo pōu líHSK 7+

to analyze in the finest detail

phrase
pōu gān lì dǎnHSK 7+

(idiom) to be completely honest and sincere

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

写好字需要掌握正确的笔画顺序。

xiě hǎo pōu zì xū yāo zhǎng wò zhēng què de bǐ huà shùn xù .

To write the character "剖" correctly, one must master the proper stroke order.

StheadlineMar 2026

陈山聪开腔白“陷剧荒”向佘诗曼求捞:叫佢打救下我 ...

chén shān cōng kāi qiāng pōu bái xiàn jù huāng xiàng 佘 shī 曼 qiú lāo : jiào 佢 dǎ jiù xià wǒ . . .

Chen Shancong opens up about his "drama drought" and asks Charmaine Sheh for help: "Tell her to save me..."

TechnewsMar 2026

人型机器人模型发展析:从模型创新转向数据累积

rén xíng jī qì rén mó xíng fā zhǎn pōu xī : cóng mó xíng chuàng xīn zhuǎn xiàng shǔ jù lěi jī

An Analysis of the Evolution of Humanoid Robot Models: From Model Innovation to Data Accumulation

99 健康网Mar 2026

...垂的治疗有哪些?目标是改善生活质量而非解复位吗

. . . chuí de zhì liáo yǒu nǎ xiē ? mù biāo shì gǎi shàn shēng huó zhì liàng ér fēi jiě pōu fù wèi ma

... What are the treatments for drooping? Is the goal to improve quality of life rather than anatomical reduction?

風傳媒Feb 2026

民进党台北市长提名谁?他析蒋万安连抛“育儿利多”原因:问题恶化中

mín jìn dǎng tái běi shì cháng tí míng shéi ? tā pōu xī 蒋 wàn ān lián pāo yù ér lì duō yuán yīn : wèn tí è huà zhōng

Who is the DPP nominee for the mayor of Taipei? He analyzed the reason why Jiang Wan'an threw "parenting benefits": the problem is getting worse

EttodayFeb 2026

馒头妈生了!腹产下四宝“怎么那么痛”泪崩...爱女白...

mán tóu mā shēng le ! pōu fù chǎn xià sì bǎo zěn má nà má tòng lèi bēng . . . ài nǚ bái . . .

The steamed bun mother gave birth! Four treasures after giving birth by caesarean section "Why are they so painful" burst into tears... Beloved daughter white...

Tatoeba

丹甚至没有上过基础解课。

Dān shènzhì méiyǒu shàng guo jīchǔ jiěpōu kè.

Dan didn't even take basic anatomy classes.

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 剖 (pōu) mean in Chinese?
剖 (pōu) primarily means "to cut open." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2400 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 剖 and 闭?
剖 (pōu) and 闭 (bì) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 剖 (open) vs 闭 (close).
How many strokes does 剖 have?
剖 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 剖?
The radical associated with 剖 is 刂 (knife). This radical appears in many characters related to knife.
What are the components of 剖?
剖 is composed of: 咅 (phonetic), 刂 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰咅刂 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 剖?
Common words with 剖 include: 解剖 (jiě pōu, "to dissect (an animal)"); 剖腹产 (pōu fù chǎn, "cesarean birth"); 解剖学 (jiě pōu xué, "anatomy"); 剖析 (pōu xī, "to analyze"); 剖腹 (pōu fù, "to cut open the abdomen"). There are over 31 compound words containing this character.
Is 剖 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 剖 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.