汰

Originally referred to washing or shaking something in water to separate impurities, such as panning sand for gold or rinsing grains.

By extension, it came to mean to remove the unnecessary, to eliminate the weak, or to select through refinement or testing.

Phono-semantic compound composed of:

水 (물 수) — semantic component, meaning “water,” indicating a process involving washing or cleansing.

太 (클 태) — phonetic component, providing the sound tae (태) and implying greatness, abundance, or excess.

Together, they depict washing away excess through water, expressing the idea of cleansing, purging, or refinement by removal.

淘汰 (도태) — to eliminate through selection; natural selection

汰除 (태제) — to wash out; to expel or dismiss

汰濯 (태탁) — to wash clean; to purify

汰水 (태수) — rinse water; wastewater

汰惡 (태악) — to cleanse from evil; to remove corruption

In music, 汰 also serves as the name of a pitch (musical note), derived from the 太 tone in ancient Chinese pitch systems, referring to the second-octave note of “Tai.”

In ancient Chinese daily life, 汰 referred literally to washing grain, silk, or sand, separating useful material from dross.

This practical act later became a metaphor for moral and social purification — the act of distinguishing the worthy from the unworthy.

「汰其糟粕，取其精華。」

“Wash away the dregs, and take the essence” — common proverb, later cited by Zhu Xi (朱熹).

In Confucian texts, the notion of purification by selection symbolized ethical discernment — the refinement of virtue through study and experience.

In modern Chinese, the compound 淘汰 (도태) gained scientific connotation through Darwinian “natural selection”, expressing the process by which the unfit are eliminated and the strong remain.

汰 embodies the principle of purification through testing — that clarity and excellence arise only when the unnecessary is removed.

Water (水) acts as both destroyer and purifier: it washes away excess but reveals what is genuine beneath.

「水能汰垢，亦能顯真。」

“Water washes away filth, yet it also reveals truth.”

In moral and intellectual contexts, 汰 suggests discernment and renewal — the courage to part with what is impure or excessive, in order to uncover essence and integrity.

汰 teaches that progress is a process of letting go — of sifting through what life offers and releasing what no longer serves.

As water separates sand from gold, so does reflection separate truth from noise.

「汰者，去繁存精之道也。」

“To purify is the way of removing the superfluous and preserving the pure.”

Thus, 汰 stands as a symbol of refinement, renewal, and the natural selection of what endures —

the wisdom of cleansing life’s waters until only clarity remains.