Chinese word dictionary

破釜沉舟

pò fǔ chén zhōu · lit. to break the cauldrons and sink the boats (idiom); fig. to cut off one's means of retreat; to burn one's boats

Practice word

Word information

Simplified破釜沉舟

Traditional破釜沉舟

Pinyinpò fǔ chén zhōu

Part of speechDictionary

HSK 3.0Not listed

HSK 2.0Not listed

Character breakdown

Study each Hanzi separately, then return to the complete word so pronunciation, meaning, and movement stay connected.

破pò

to break, to rout; to ruin, to destroy

釜fǔ

cauldron, kettle, pot

沉chén

to sink, to submerge; profound, deep

舟zhōu

boat, ship

How to learn 破釜沉舟

Listen once without reading, repeat the pinyin with its tones, then write every character in sequence. Finally, recall the complete meaning instead of memorizing each character as an isolated translation.

When the word appears in a sentence, check whether its part of speech and meaning match the definition shown here. Chinese words can change nuance with context.

Related vocabulary

Words with the same characters

Compare how a familiar Hanzi changes meaning inside another word.

破pò

broken; damaged; worn out; lousy; rotten; to break, split or cleave; to get rid of; to destroy; to break with; to defeat; to capture (a city etc); to expose the truth of

沉chén

to submerge; to immerse; to sink; to keep down; to lower; to drop; deep; profound; heavy; variant of 沉[chen2]

沉默chénmò

taciturn; uncommunicative; silent

打破dǎpò

to break; to smash

破坏pòhuài

destruction; damage; to wreck; to break; to destroy

沉重chénzhòng

heavy; hard; serious; critical