Meaning
分离 means to separate or divide things or people that were previously together. It can refer to physical separation (like separating substances in chemistry) or emotional parting (like family members or lovers being apart). The word carries a neutral to slightly melancholic tone, especially when describing people being separated.
Usage
分离 is more formal than 分开 and is commonly used in written Chinese, scientific contexts, and when discussing emotional separations. It frequently appears in literary works to describe parting between people. In everyday speech, 分开 is more common for general separations.
Examples
- 01战争使许多家庭被迫分离。.War forced many families to separate.
- 02科学家成功地从这种植物中分离出了有效成分。.Scientists successfully separated the active ingredients from this plant.
Characters
Common collocations
- 分离焦虑separation anxiety
- 生离死别parting in life and death (painful separation)
- 分离出to separate out, to extract
- 难舍难分hard to part, reluctant to separate
Antonyms
Origin
Both characters relate to separation: 分 originally depicted dividing something with a knife, while 离 shows a bird leaving its nest. Together they emphasize the completeness of separation.