粉碎

• Pinyin: fěn suì
• Hanzi breakdown: 粉 = 米 + 分 (rice + divide — powdery fine particles); 碎 = 石 + 卒 (stone + complete/soldier — utterly shattered stone)

Meaning

To smash to pieces; to crush completely; shattered. Describes the total destruction of something into fragments, whether physical or abstract.

Used both literally (shattering glass, grinding ore) and figuratively (crushing dreams, dismantling a conspiracy). In political and historical contexts, 粉碎 appears in phrases such as 粉碎阴谋 (foil a plot). Stronger and more complete than 打碎 or 破碎.

Examples

1. 地震发生时，货架上的瓷器纷纷跌落，摔得粉碎，整个厨房地面铺满了碎片。 When the earthquake hit, the porcelain on the shelves fell and shattered, and the entire kitchen floor was covered with pieces.
2. 检察机关历时两年完成调查，终于将这个盘踞多年的跨国贩毒网络彻底粉碎。 After two years of investigation, prosecutors finally smashed this long-entrenched transnational drug-trafficking network.
3. 多年努力换来的梦想在一场意外中化为乌有，他内心深处的某种东西也随之粉碎。 A dream built through years of hard work vanished in an accident, and something deep inside him shattered along with it.

Usage Guide

Context: physical, politics, law, emotions

Tone: intense

Do Say

• 通过长达数月的卧底侦查，警方积累了足够证据，一举粉碎了专门针对老年群体实施诈骗的地下犯罪团伙。(Through months of undercover investigation, police gathered sufficient evidence to in one stroke smash the underground criminal gang that had specifically been targeting the elderly.)
• 那次毁灭性的失败将他所有关于成功的幻想彻底粉碎，却也意外地让他第一次开始直视自己内心深处真正渴望的是什么。(That devastating failure completely shattered all his illusions about success, but unexpectedly, for the first time, caused him to confront directly what he truly yearned for deep within himself.)

Don't Say

• 粉碎 for minor breakage — use 打碎 for accidentally broken objects or 弄坏 for damaged items; 粉碎 implies total, irreversible destruction rather than simple damage

Origin & History

粉 (powder — finely ground particles) + 碎 (broken pieces) — to break something into powder-fine fragments; complete destruction

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal