Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

破: rend, rip

Also: tear, break, destroy, defeat, frustrate

JLPT N310 strokesGrade 5Your ink: 白 Not met

石 carries the meaning · 皮 gives the sound

10 strokes

Three readings, and the words that use each

ハha · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 破局はきょくcatastrophe, cataclysm
  • 破片はへんfragment, splinter, broken piece
  • 破壊するはかいするdestroy, demolish
  • 破棄するはきするrevoke, annul, break
  • 破産するはさんするgo bankrupt
  • 破滅するはめつするfall into ruin
  • 読破するどくはするfinish reading a book
  • 爆破するばくはするexplode, blow up
  • 突破するとっぱするbreak through

やぶるyaburu · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 破るやぶるtear, violate, defeat [v.t.]

やぶれるyabureru · kun'yomi

  • 破れるやぶれるwear out, get torn [v.i.]

Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.

  • 難波するなんぱするbe wrecked (ship)

Also read われる, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Phono-semantic compound (形聲)石 (meaning) + 皮 (sound)

Source: Wiktionary, 破 (rev. 93429868), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Stone + skin/hide (皮) = imagine a stone striking a tough hide and causing it to tear. To break through something solid.”
From the 石 stone story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
石

Also built on stone (石)

All 20
皮

Also built on skin (皮)

All 5

The 皮 family reads ヒ (hi); 破 is read ハ.

Also read ハ

5 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
破 rend · 石
vs疲 exhausted · 疒
破 has 石 where 疲 has 疒.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · pò

Same form: 破 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
破 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
破 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin pò most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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