砍

• Pinyin: kǎn
• Hanzi breakdown: 砍 = 石 (stone, for hard tool) + 欠 (lack, phonetic) — to chop, cut

Meaning

To chop; to cut; to hack; to slash (prices).

Primary meaning is to chop or cut with a blade — chopping wood, cutting trees. Colloquially also used for bargaining/haggling prices (砍价). A common, everyday word. Collocates with 树 (tree), 柴 (firewood), 价 (price), 刀 (knife).

Examples

1. 他拿起斧子砍了半天柴，累得满头大汗。 He picked up the axe and chopped firewood for half a day, sweating profusely.
2. 买东西要会砍价，直接接受标价太亏了。 You need to know how to bargain when shopping — just accepting the listed price is a bad deal.
3. 公司大规模砍掉了亏损业务，专注核心产品。 The company cut loss-making businesses on a large scale to focus on core products.

Usage Guide

Context: physical action, bargaining, business

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 这棵树太高了，得砍掉。(This tree is too tall — it needs to be cut down.)
• 你会砍价吗？(Do you know how to bargain?)

Don't Say

• 我砍了一下那篇文章。(砍 is physical cutting — for editing text, use 删 or 修改)

Origin & History

Pictophonetic character: 石 (stone, semantic for hard tool) + 欠 (lack, phonetic). To cut or chop.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal