Chinese word

消灭

Pronunciation

Pinyinxiāo miè

Meaning

  • verbget rid of

Example

我们想把老鼠消灭掉。wǒ men xiǎng bǎ láo shǔ xiāo miè diào

We want to get rid of the mice.

Illustration for 消灭 (get rid of)

More examples

政府提出了一系列措施来消灭贫困。zhèng fǔ tí chū le yí xì liè cuò shī lái xiāo miè pín kùn

The government proposed a series of measures to eliminate poverty.

Core concept

A deliberate removal that makes a target cease to exist instead of merely moving or hiding it.

Common phrases

  • 消灭贫困xiāo miè pín kùn

    eliminate poverty

  • 消灭腐败xiāo miè fǔ bài

    eradicate corruption

  • 消灭犯罪xiāo miè fàn zuì

    eliminate crime

Similar words

消除xiāo chú: Remove an obstacle, harmful effect, or unwanted element.
除掉chú diào: Take away an unwanted or troublesome thing.
扑灭pū miè: Forcefully extinguish a fire or stamp out pests or an epidemic.
根除gēn chú: Thoroughly eliminate a problem or harmful cause so it does not return.

Definition in Chinese

使某物从存在状态消失，通常指彻底根除。shǐ mǒu wù cóng cún zài zhuàng tài xiāo shī tōng cháng zhǐ chè dǐ gēn chú

Word origin

消 (xiāo, "disappear") + 灭 (miè, "extinguish") combines disappearance with extinguishing, giving 消灭 (xiāomiè, "to eliminate") its sense of complete removal.

Usage tips

  • In everyday Chinese, the object can be a problem or danger as well as a living thing, so the verb does not require something that can literally die.

Other meanings

  • be wiped outverb
  • eradicateverb

Opposites

Word lists with this word