轰炸

• Pinyin: hōng zhà
• Hanzi breakdown: 轰 = three 车 (vehicles) — great collective rumbling sound; 炸 = 火 (fire) + 乍 (sudden/phonetic) — sudden explosive fire

Meaning

To bomb; to bombard. Literally: aerial or artillery bombardment. Figuratively: to overwhelm or inundate someone with information, messages, or demands.

轰炸 is used in both military contexts (strategic bombing, aerial bombardment) and figurative ones (信息轰炸 — information overload; 广告轰炸 — advertising bombardment; 私信轰炸 — flood of direct messages). The sense of overwhelming force or volume carries through both uses. 狂轰滥炸 (to bomb indiscriminately) extends the military metaphor to reckless, disproportionate attacks.

Examples

1. 战争期间，敌军的战略轰炸机对该城市的工业基础设施进行了持续数周的高强度轰炸，造成了极为惨重的伤亡。 During the war, enemy strategic bombers carried out weeks of high-intensity bombing on the city’s industrial infrastructure, causing extremely heavy casualties.
2. 产品发布前的最后一周，市场团队对目标消费群体发动了全面的广告轰炸，覆盖了国内各大主流媒体平台。 In the final week before the product launch, the marketing team unleashed a full-scale advertising blitz on target consumers, blanketing major mainstream media platforms across the country.
3. 自从她在短视频平台发布了那条爆红视频，粉丝们的私信和评论便如同轰炸一般涌来，令她完全应接不暇。 Ever since she posted that viral video on a short-video platform, direct messages and comments have poured in like a barrage, leaving her completely overwhelmed.

Usage Guide

Context: military, media, marketing, information technology, figurative

Tone: intense

Do Say

• 反恐行动中，特种部队对武装分子的藏匿据点实施了精准轰炸，成功消灭了长期威胁当地安全的这一重要隐患。(During the counter-terrorism operation, special forces carried out a precision bombing of the militants' hideout, successfully eliminating this significant security threat that had long plagued the local area.)
• 她刚发布一篇深度分析文章，评论区便遭到读者的疯狂轰炸，各方观点充斥其中，讨论热度数日未见消退。(Just after she published an in-depth analytical article, the comments section was bombarded by readers, with viewpoints from all sides flooding in — the discussion heat did not subside for days.)

Don't Say

• 轰炸 for gentle or moderate pressure or contact — the word implies overwhelming force or volume; use 打扰 or 催促 for lighter forms of persistent contact

Origin & History

轰 (loud noise; rumbling; explosion) + 炸 (to explode; to detonate; to bomb)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal