| 断 | duàn | to break; to snap; to cut off; to give up or abstain from sth; to judge; (usu. used in the negative) absolutely, definitely,decidedly |
| 断定 | duàn dìng | to conclude; to determine; to come to a judgment |
| 断开 | duàn kāi | to break; to sever; to turn off (electric switch) |
| 断裂 | duàn liè | fracture; rupture |
| 断绝 | duàn jué | to sever; to break off |
| 断言 | duàn yán | affirm; assertion |
| 断然 | duàn rán | absolutely; certainly |
| 断电 | duàn diàn | power cut; electric power failure |
| 断层 | duàn céng | geologic fault; CL:道,个 |
| 断奶 | duàn nǎi | to wean |
| 断送 | duàn sòng | to forfeit (future profit, one's life etc); ruined |
| 断断续续 | duàn duàn xù xù | intermittent; off and on; discontinuous; stop-go; stammering; disjointed; inarticulate |
| 断案 | duàn àn | to judge a case |
| 断线 | duàn xiàn | disconnected; cut off |
| 断狱 | duàn yù | to pass judgement on a legal case |
| 断章取义 | duàn zhāng qǔ yì | lit. to take meaning from cut segment (idiom); to interpret out of context; to focus attention on one phrase without regard to the meaning of the whole piece |
| 断气 | duàn qì | to stop breathing; to breathe one's last; to die; to cut the gas supply |
| 断乎 | duàn hū | certainly |
| 断交 | duàn jiāo | break off diplomatic relations |
| 断代 | duàn dài | periodization (of history) |
| 断句 | duàn jù | to pause at appropriate points in reading aloud unpunctuated writing; to punctuate |
| 断层线 | duàn céng xiàn | geological fault line |
| 断崖 | duàn yá | steep cliff; crag; precipice |
| 断弦 | duàn xián | widowed; lit. broken string, cf 琴瑟 qin and se, two instruments epitomizing marital harmony |
| 断想 | duàn xiǎng | brief commentary |
| 断桥 | duàn qiáo | The Broken Bridge (at West Lake in Hangzhou) |
| 断档 | duàn dàng | sold out; to be out of stock |
| 断流 | duàn liú | to run dry (of river) |
| 断港绝潢 | duàn gǎng jué huáng | to be unable to continue; to come to a dead end (idiom) |
| 断灭 | duàn miè | annihilation (of soul, Sanskrit uccheda) |
| 断灭论 | duàn miè lùn | annihilation (of soul, Sanskrit uccheda) |
| 断瓦残垣 | duàn wǎ cán yuán | the tiles are broken, the walls dilapidated |
| 断粮 | duàn liáng | to run out of food |
| 断线风筝 | duàn xiàn fēng zhēng | a kite with cut string (idiom); fig. gone beyond recall |
| 断续 | duàn xù | intermittent |
| 断背 | duàn bèi | homosexual, cf Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain |
| 断背山 | Duàn bèi shān | Brokeback Mountain, film by Ang Lee |
| 断肠 | duàn cháng | heartbroken; to break one's heart |
| 断腿 | duàn tuǐ | broken leg |
| 断行 | duàn xíng | to carry out resolutely |
| 断袖 | duàn xiù | homosexual |
| 断袖之癖 | duàn xiù zhī pǐ | lit. cut sleeve (idiom); fig. euphemism for homosexuality, originating from History of Western Han 汉书: emperor Han Aidi (real name Liu Xin) was in bed with his lover Dong Xian, and had to attend a court audience that morning. Not wishing to awaken Dong Xian, who was sleeping with his head resting on the emperor's long robe sleeve, Aidi used a knife to cut off the lower half of his sleeve. |
| 断裂带 | duàn liè dài | fault zone (geology) |
| 断裂模数 | duàn liè mó shù | modulus rupture |
| 断语 | duàn yǔ | conclusion; judgement; verdict |
| 断路器 | duàn lù qì | circuit breaker |
| 断头台 | duàn tóu tái | scaffold |
| 断食 | duàn shí | to fast; hunger strike |
| 断魂椒 | duàn hún jiāo | king cobra or ghost chili (Naga jolokia) |
