灭绝
miè jué · HSK 7
to become extinct
🦖 灭 extinguish + 绝 cut off = wiped out, none left (think dinosaurs)
灭 means to put out a flame or destroy; 绝 means to sever or cut off entirely. Together they push past plain death to total erasure: a species cut off with zero survivors, like the dinosaurs.
灭 — fire 火 under cover 一
Originally written 烕, showing fire 火 being smothered or extinguished. The modern simplified form 灭 visually depicts a horizontal stroke 一 pressing down on fire 火, capturing the idea of putting out flames. The meaning extended from 'extinguish' to 'destroy' or 'wipe out'.
绝 — silk 纟 + 巴 (phonetic-ish, knife cutting threads)
绝 originally depicted cutting silk threads with a knife, conveying the idea of severing or cutting off completely. From this concrete sense it extended to mean 'to break off,' 'exhausted,' and figuratively 'absolute' or 'extreme.' The simplified form replaced the older right-hand component with 巴.