HanziGuru.絕 · jué
絕
jué[jue2]Tone 2

to cut short, absolute, extremely

HSK 3
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绝
Guru Deep Dive

English · to cut short, absolute, extremely

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Topology:Left-right
Strokes:9
Writing Balance Rule: The left side (silk radical 纟) occupies about one-third of the width, and the right side takes two-thirds, ensuring the whole character remains stable and well-proportioned.
Simplification Logic: The traditional form 絕 uses 糸 for silk and has a knife component and a breath component (卪 / 邑 variants). Simplified to 绝, the silk is compressed to 纟 and the right side is streamlined into 色-like shapes.
1. Meaning

to cut short, to sever, absolute

extinctto disappearby no meansextremely
Verb / AdverbNeutral#action#degree#state
Sample Usage
  • 绝对
    juéduì
    absolute / absolutely
  • 绝望
    juéwàng
    despair / hopeless
2. Sound
/[tɕy̯e²⁵]/Tone: 35
絕
juéjue2
++
´(35)
=jué
Initial Consonant
j
Type: Unaspirated Alveolo-Palatal
Sounds like: j sound as in 'jeep' (alveolo-palatal)
Unaspirated
Airflow Tactile Test: No air puff. Lips spread wide like smiling.
Tongue & Mouth Position: Blade of the tongue touches the hard palate, air releases softly without a puff.
Final Rhyme
ue
Vowel Group: -e vowel group
Sounds like: ü-e sound (similar to French 'ué' or German 'ü+e')
Note: Written as 'ue', pronounced as rounded 'üe' [y].
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'üeh'.
Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.
Abbreviated Rhyme Rule: In pinyin writing for 'jue', the ü loses its umlaut dots because it follows the j/q/x series, but the sound remains üe.
Tone
T2 (35)
2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 rises from medium pitch to high pitch, matching an upward questioning inflection in English speech.
👂
Listening trap: Confusing the rounded vowel ü [y] with the unrounded i [i] or u [u]. Listen closely for the front-rounded quality of 'ü' before the 'e'.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 2 rises from mid to high like asking a question in English ('What?'), accompanied by a hand moving upward and outward.
3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 9 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (silk radical 纟) occupies about one-third of the width, and the right side takes two-thirds, ensuring the whole character remains stable and well-proportioned.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 絕 uses 糸 for silk and has a knife component and a breath component (卪 / 邑 variants). Simplified to 绝, the silk is compressed to 纟 and the right side is streamlined into 色-like shapes.

4. Components

Radical 纟 · Silk Radical (silk, threads, fibers)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 纟 (Relates to threads, fibers, or cutting threads.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 色 (original sound: jue)

A silk thread (纟) being sliced by a blade or knife variant, showing that the thread is cut short (绝).

  • 纟 silk thread
  • 色 phonetic and visual shape clue
5. History
Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally written with threads (糸) and a knife or action element indicating the severing of silk threads, leading to the meaning of cutting off or ending completely.

Semantic Evolution: From cutting threads apart, the meaning generalized to any form of severing, cutting short, disappearing completely, and eventually to 'absolute' or 'extreme'.

  • Classic Chinese poetry uses '绝句' (juéjù) to refer to truncated or cut-short verse forms consisting of four lines.
6. Sinosphere
🇻🇳
Sino-Vietnamese
tuyệt
Entering tone (tích) or glottal stop in Vietnamese matches the abrupt ending of checked historical stops.
🇯🇵
Kanji (Japanese)
On: ゼツ (zetsu) / Kun: た.つ, たえる, ひきあう
🇰🇷
Hanja (Korean)
절
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story

You take a bundle of silk threads (纟) and slice them so abruptly that they vanish completely, making the supply absolutely extinct (绝).

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
绝
juéto cut short, absoluteBase character with silk radical
艳
yàngorgeous, colorfulUses '丰' on the right instead of '色'
Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)
色(sè)
色 means color and stands alone without the silk radical 纟 on the left.
8. Mastery
Active Recall Challenge
這個方法真是太[___]了！
Clue: jué
Common Learner Pitfall

Mispronouncing the final as English 'jewel' or forgetting that the initial 'j' takes the 'ü' sound, resulting in an incorrect unrounded 'u' or 'i' sound.

Memory Prompts
Recognition: When you see 绝, what is its core action and tone 2 reading?
Production: How do you write the character for 'absolute' or 'to cut short' (jué) with 9 strokes?
Real-World Video Context

Watch authentic native speakers pronounce and explain this word in real-world YouTube videos.

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