摧

cuī

to break

to destroy; to devastate; to ravage; to repress

hand (扌) + phonetic cuī (崔) = to crush and destroy

The hand radical drives the physical action of smashing or crushing. 崔 contributes the sound cuī and carries no semantic weight here.

扌+崔→摧

崔A surnamePhonetic

扌HandSemantic

狂风摧折了院子里的大树。

kuáng fēng cuī zhé le yuàn zi lǐ de dà shù。

The fierce wind broke the big tree in the yard.

这场战争摧毁了无数人的家园。

zhè chǎng zhàn zhēng cuī huǐ le wú shù rén de jiā yuán。

This war destroyed the homes of countless people.

坚不可摧

jiān bù kě cuī

(idiom) invulnerable; indestructible; impregnable

崩摧

bēng cuī

to collapse

悲摧

bēi cuī

grieved

摧残

cuī cán

to ravage

摧毁

cuī huǐ

to destroy; to wreck

无坚不摧

wú jiān bù cuī

no stronghold one cannot overcome (idiom); to conquer every obstacle

兰摧玉折

lán cuī yù zhé

premature death of a budding talent