jiǎn

(bound form) scissors or similar tool

surname Jian; to cut as with scissors; (bound form) to wipe out; to exterminate; to edit (video, audio etc)

forward (前) + knife (刀) = cut with scissors

刀 is the meaning-carrier here, evoking a blade doing the cutting. 前 primarily lends the sound jiǎn and does not contribute semantically.

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KnifeSemantic
FrontPhonetic

她用刀把纸剪成了小花。

tā yòng jiǎndāo bǎ zhǐ jiǎn chéng le xiǎo huā。

she used scissors to cut the paper into small flowers.

他花了很多时间辑这段视频。

tā huā le hěn duō shíjiān jiǎnjí zhè duàn shìpín。

he spent a lot of time editing this video.

Words with 剪

剪力

jiǎn lì

shear

双瞳剪水

shuāng tóng jiǎn shuǐ

(idiom) clear, bright eyes

修剪

xiū jiǎn

to prune

剪成

jiǎn chéng

cut into

删剪

shān jiǎn

to cut (from a movie etc)

剪刀

jiǎn dāo

scissors

剪刀差

jiǎn dāo chā

prices scissor (caught between low income and high prices)

剪刀手

jiǎn dāo shǒu

V sign (hand gesture)

剪刀石头布

jiǎn dāo shí tou bù

rock-paper-scissors (game)

剪切

jiǎn qiē

to cut (with scissors or similar tool); to shear

剪切力

jiǎn qiē lì

shear

剪切形变

jiǎn qiē xíng biàn

shearing

More characters with 前