拆 meaning in English

chāi

to tear open; to tear down

HSK 5verb8 strokes

Meaning of 拆

Definitions from CC-CEDICT.

chāi

to tear open
to tear down
to tear apart
to open

How to use 拆

拆 is used for opening things that are sealed and for taking apart or tearing down structures. You often see a big 拆 painted on old buildings in China, marking them for demolition. Example: 他拆开了信封。(Tā chāikāi le xìnfēng.) He tore open the envelope.

拆 has the hand radical 扌 on the left, so think of a hand at work. The right side 斥 (chì) looks like 斤 (jīn, axe) with an extra dot, so picture a hand swinging an axe to take something apart.

Common mistake: Learners often confuse 拆 with 折 (zhé, to fold or break). They look alike, but 折 has 斤 on the right with no extra dot, while 拆 has 斥 with the extra stroke. Also note the pinyin is chāi with a first tone, not chái.

拆 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

汤tāng姆mǔ把bǎ钟zhōng拆chāi开kāi了le。

Tom took the clock apart.

他tā们men将jiāng在zài两liǎng天tiān内nèi拆chāi除chú这zhè栋dòng旧jiù的de建jiàn筑zhù物wù。

They will tear down the old building in two days.

过guò河hé拆chāi桥qiáo。

Danger past, God forgotten.

没méi有yǒu人rén会huì为wèi这zhè个ge旧jiù建jiàn筑zhù物wù的de拆chāi除chú而ér落luò泪lèi。

Nobody's going to shed any tears if that old building gets torn down.

我wǒ们men以yǐ前qián住zhù的de房fáng子zi被bèi拆chāi毁huǐ了le。

The house in which we lived was torn down.

Stroke order for each character

Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.

拆 chāi · to tear open · 8 strokes

Related words

Words that share a character with 拆.

拆除	chāichú	to tear down; to demolish
拆迁	chāiqiān	to demolish a building and relocate the inhabitants
拆散	chāisàn	to break up (a marriage, family etc)
拆开	chāikāi	to dismantle; to disassemble
拆穿	chāichuān	to expose; to unmask
拆毁	chāihuǐ	to demolish; to tear down

Questions about 拆

What does 拆 mean?

拆 (chāi) means "to tear open; to tear down" and is used as a verb.

How do you write 拆?

拆 is made of 1 character: 拆 (8 strokes). That is 8 strokes in total.

Is 拆 an HSK word?

Yes. 拆 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.

What is the difference between 拆 and 撕?

撕 (sī) means to rip or tear something thin like paper or cloth with your hands. 拆 means to take something apart or open it along its seams or structure, like a package, a machine, or a building.

What does 拆台 mean?

拆台 (chāitái) literally means to tear down the stage. It is used figuratively to mean undermining someone or sabotaging their efforts, often a partner or colleague.