避免(bì miǎn) - to avoid, to prevent, to refrain from in Mandarin

避免 (bì miǎn) is to head something off before it can happen: a mistake, an accident, a delay, an argument. It is a slightly formal verb, at home in writing, safety notices and careful speech.

What follows it is an event, not a thing and not a person. You avoid 错误, 危险, 麻烦, 战争, or a whole clause such as 避免孩子受伤. That clause pattern is worth drilling, because English tends to reach for a noun where Mandarin happily takes a small sentence.

The trap is using 避免 for dodging a person. 避免他 sounds like preventing him from occurring. If you want to stay out of a person's way, use 躲 or 躲开, and if you want to keep clear of a place use 不去 or 绕开.