断裂
duàn liè · HSK 7
fracture
💔🦴 断 (cut/sever) + 裂 (split/crack) = broken apart at the seam
Each character already means breaking: 断 is to sever or snap, 裂 is to split or crack open. Together they double down — a clean break that splits something into separate pieces, like a bone fracturing in two.
断 — thread 㡭 (silk bundle) + axe 斤
Originally written with 㡭 (entangled silk threads) on the left and 斤 (axe) on the right, depicting an axe cutting through bundled threads. From this concrete image of severing came the meanings 'to cut off,' 'to break,' and by extension 'to decide' or 'judge'—as in resolving a matter decisively.
裂 — 列 (liè, phonetic) + 衣 (clothing)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 衣 'clothing' gives the meaning and 列 supplies the sound. The original sense was tearing or splitting cloth, which broadened to 'split, crack, rupture' in general. The 衣 component is written split around 列 rather than on the side.