除

Tap the pinyin to hear it

to get rid of; to remove; to exclude; to eliminate; to wipe out; to divide; except; not including

Sound it out + =

Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

Ideographic compound (会意字)

The waste 余 produced by a city 阝

Components 阝余

eliminate · Heisig RSH #1284

pinnacle + scale

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
三下五除二	sān xià wǔ chú èr	three, set five remove two (abacus rule); efficiently; quickly and easily
除子	chú zǐ	divisor (math.)
自由基清除剂	zì yóu jī qīng chú jì	radical scavenger (chemistry)
除法	chú fǎ	division (math.)
种族清除	zhǒng zú qīng chú	ethnic cleansing
除旧布新	chú jiù bù xīn	to get rid of the old to bring in the new (idiom); to innovate
开除	kāi chú	to expel (a member of an organization); to fire (an employee)
除开	chú kāi	besides; except; to get rid of (sb); (math.) to divide
除数	chú shù	divisor (math.)
药到病除	yào dào bìng chú	lit. the disease is cured the moment the medicine is taken (idiom); fig. (of a medical tre…
除外	chú wài	to exclude; not including sth (when counting or listing); except for
除名	chú míng	to strike off (the rolls); to remove from a list; to expunge; to expel
除罪化	chú zuì huà	to decriminalize
若要人不知，除非己莫为	ruò yào rén bù zhī , chú fēi jǐ mò wéi	If you don't want anyone to know, don't do it (idiom). fig. If you do something bad, peopl…
自动体外除颤器	zì dòng tǐ wài chú chàn qì	AED (automated external defibrillator)
除过	chú guò	(dialect) except; besides
除此之外	chú cǐ zhī wài	apart from this; in addition to this
清除	qīng chú	to clear away; to eliminate; to get rid of
除不尽	chú bù jìn	indivisible (math)
为民除害	wèi mín chú hài	(idiom) to rid the people of a scourge

These characters use 除 as their sound component — compare how they read.

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
除 sound part	chú	to eliminate, to remove, to wipe out
滁	chú	a district in Anhui province