How to Write 割 (gē) — Meaning “to cut; to sever”

Imagine a knife (刂) causing harm (害) by cutting something — that is 割. You can picture someone cutting grass and accidentally harming a flower, linking the two parts.

Write the left part 害 first (stroke order: dot, dot, horizontal, vertical, horizontal, horizontal, vertical, horizontal fold, horizontal, vertical), then add the right part 刂 (vertical, vertical hook). Make sure the left side is slightly wider than the right, and the vertical stroke of 刂 is straight and long.

割 means a general cut with a blade, like mowing grass or cutting meat. 剔 (tī) means to pick out or scrape, like removing bones from meat, and 剖 (pōu) means to cut open or analyze, like dissecting something. Visually, 割 uses 害, 剔 uses 易, and 剖 uses 咅 on the left.

割 appears in common words like 割草 (gē cǎo, mow grass), 割肉 (gē ròu, cut meat or sell stocks at a loss), and 收割 (shōu gē, harvest crops). In Chinese stock market slang, 割肉 means selling shares at a loss, similar to 'cutting your losses.'

Common words containing 割 include: 割草 (gē cǎo) — mow the grass; 割肉 (gē ròu) — to cut meat; to sell at a loss (stocks); 收割 (shōu gē) — to harvest; to reap.