Meaning of 暴力
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- violence
- force
- violent
How to use 暴力
暴力 is used as a noun for violence and also before other nouns to mean violent, as in 暴力行为 (bàolì xíngwéi, violent behavior) or 家庭暴力 (jiātíng bàolì, domestic violence). Example: 我们反对一切暴力。(Wǒmen fǎnduì yíqiè bàolì.) We oppose all violence.
暴 (bào) means fierce or sudden, as in a violent storm, and 力 (lì) means force or strength. Put them together and you get fierce force, which is violence.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes confuse 暴 (bào) with 爆 (bào, to explode) because they sound the same and look similar. Remember that 爆 has the fire radical 火 and appears in words like 爆炸 (bàozhà, explosion), while 暴力 never uses it.
暴力 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
暴 bào · violent · 15 strokes
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力 lì · power · 2 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 暴力.
| 努力 | nǔlì | to make an effort; to try hard; to strive; hard-working; conscientious |
| 力量 | lìliàng | power; force; strength |
| 能力 | nénglì | capability; ability |
| 压力 | yālì | pressure |
| 动力 | dònglì | motive power; (fig.) motivation; impetus |
| 实力 | shílì | strength |
| 听力 | tīnglì | hearing; listening ability |
| 巧克力 | qiǎokèlì | (loanword) chocolate |
| 尽力 | jìnlì | to strive one's hardest; to spare no effort |
| 力气 | lìqi | physical strength |
| 精力 | jīnglì | energy (physical or mental) |
| 智力 | zhìlì | intelligence; intellect |
Questions about 暴力
What does 暴力 mean?
暴力 (bàolì) means "violence; force" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 暴力?
暴力 is made of 2 characters: 暴 (15 strokes), 力 (2 strokes). That is 17 strokes in total.
Is 暴力 an HSK word?
Yes. 暴力 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Can 暴力 describe a person directly, like violent in English?
Not usually on its own. To describe a violent person, Chinese often says 有暴力倾向 (yǒu bàolì qīngxiàng, has violent tendencies) or uses 暴躁 (bàozào, hot-tempered).
What does 暴力 mean in internet slang?
Online, 暴力 can mean using brute force or extreme methods, as in 暴力破解 (bàolì pòjiě, brute-force cracking). The related term 网络暴力 (wǎngluò bàolì) means cyberbullying or online harassment.