腰 斩

yāo zhǎndictionary entry

to chop sb in half at the waist (capital punishment) / to cut sth in half / to reduce sth by a dramatic margin / to terminate / to cut short

Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-1a58e7bdac9c7715. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

腰斬 腰斩 [yao1 zhan3] /to chop sb in half at the waist (capital punishment)/to cut sth in half/to reduce sth by a dramatic margin/to terminate/to cut short/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 腰斬

腰
yāo
the waist and lower back / (bound form) kidney of an animal (as food) / the waist of trousers or a skirt / (metonym) money pouch / pocket / (bound form) the middle section of an upright object (mountain, bottle etc)
斩
zhǎn
to behead (as form of capital punishment) / to chop

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.