verb HSK 5
to eliminate · to wash away · to sift out
Meaning
汰 means to eliminate or wash away, often used in the sense of removing the inferior or unwanted through a selection process. It commonly appears in compound words related to elimination, natural selection, or filtering out unsuitable elements.
Usage
This character is rarely used alone in modern Mandarin. It most commonly appears in the compound 淘汰 (táotài), meaning 'to eliminate' or 'to phase out.' When used independently, it has a somewhat literary or formal tone and typically refers to washing away sediment or removing inferior items through selection.
Examples
- 01在自然选择中，不适应环境的物种会被淘汰。, .In natural selection, species that don't adapt to the environment will be eliminated.
- 02这种落后的生产方式早就应该淘汰了。.This backward production method should have been phased out long ago.
Common collocations
- 淘汰赛elimination round/match
- 被淘汰to be eliminated
Antonyms
Origin
The character combines the water radical 氵(shuǐ) with 太 (tài), which provides the phonetic component. The water radical suggests the original meaning of washing away or filtering through water.