DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

瓦解

Mandarin · pinyin wǎ jiě

to collapse; to disintegrate; to crumble
to disrupt; to break up

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

瓦: wǎ · tile; earthenware pottery; girl
解: jiě · loosen, unfasten, untie; explain; hexagram ䷧

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

3–3 · wa3 jie3

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

2character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

瓦解 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 3 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ngaa5 gaai2

Cantonese word readings for 瓦解. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

verb

(intransitive) to disintegrate (like smashed earthenware); to collapse; to crumble; to fall apart
(intransitive) to disperse; to break away; to scatter away
(transitive) to make something crumble; to crush; to destroy

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack