抵消

• Pinyin: dǐ xiāo
• Hanzi breakdown: 抵 = 扌 + 氐 (resist); 消 = 氵 + 肖 (to dissolve/eliminate)

Meaning

To offset; to cancel out; to neutralise. When two opposing forces or effects reduce each other, resulting in a diminished or zero net outcome.

Used in physics, economics, and everyday reasoning. In economics: costs that offset gains. In policy: one measure cancelling out the effect of another. The word implies that the two sides are roughly equal in magnitude, resulting in mutual elimination.

Examples

1. 补贴政策的积极效应被高企的物价所抵消，居民实际可支配收入并未增加。 The positive effects of the subsidy policy were offset by soaring prices, and residents’ actual disposable income did not increase.
2. 这两种药物的副作用可以相互抵消，联合用药反而减少了整体不良反应。 The side effects of these two medications can cancel each other out, so using them together actually reduced overall adverse reactions.
3. 他的出色演技在一定程度上抵消了剧本薄弱的缺陷，使影片获得了不少好评。 His outstanding acting partly made up for the weaknesses of the script, earning the film quite a bit of praise.

Usage Guide

Context: economics, science, logic, everyday

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 减税政策带来的收益被新增的隐性收费所抵消，企业实际负担并未减轻。(The gains from tax reduction were offset by new hidden charges — the actual burden on businesses was not reduced.)
• 两种相互矛盾的政策目标如果没有协调，往往会在执行中相互抵消，导致政策失效。(When two contradictory policy goals are not coordinated, they often cancel each other out during implementation, causing policies to fail.)

Don't Say

• 这抵消了那个 — too vague; use 这一优势被那项劣势所抵消; 抵消 requires clear subject and object showing what counteracts what

Origin & History

抵 (counter) + 消 (disappear/eliminate)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal