折

zhé
HSK 6
#1,129 most
frequent character
to break, to snap, to suffer the loss of
verb
noun

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

折 shows 扌, a hand, and 斤, a wood axe, and first meant cutting a tree in two. In early forms the hand was actually a tree being split. The sense widened to snapping, folding and bending, and even to a discount. Read shé it means to break; read zhē, to turn over.

Drawn as: axe cutting a tree

折 as a component in other characters

sound7 characters
哲誓逝浙蜇踅哳

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Example Sentences

我把纸折成了一个飞机。
wǒbǎ zhǐ zhē chéngle yígè fēijī 。
I folded the paper into an airplane.
这条路需要折一个弯才能到达目的地。
zhè tiáo lù xūyào zhē yígè wān cáinéng dàodá mùdìdì 。
This road needs to bend to reach the destination.
这本书的封面很美，我很欣赏。
zhè běn shū de fēngmiàn hěnměi ， wǒ hěn xīnshǎng 。
The cover of this book is beautiful; I really admire it.

Same Characters, Different Readings

折shé
to snap, to break (a stick, a bone etc)
折zhē
to turn sth over, to turn upside down

Words with similar meanings

弯wān
to bend
This synonym emphasizes the physical action of bending something, similar to '折' but is often used in contexts describing curves.
折叠zhédié
to fold
This word is more specific to the action of folding, and is commonly used in contexts involving paper or fabric.

Homophones

乙zhé
turning stroke (in Chinese characters), aka 折[zhe2]
哲zhé
wise, a sage

Words Starting With 折

折磨zhé mó
to persecute; to torment

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HSK 6
All words for the HSK 6 test