Kilo Lingo

(tuì chū) - to withdraw, to quit, to leave, to log out in Mandarin

tuìchū

Traditional: 退出

#2237 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

to withdraw, to quit, to leave, to log out

Word origin

A compound of 退 (tuì, to retreat, to step back) and 出 (chū, to go out), so to step back out of something you were inside.

Origin
compound
Root
退 (tuì, to retreat) + 出 (chū, to go out)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 退

退

Stroke order for 出

Examples

退tuì

He decided to withdraw from the competition.

退tuì

Two countries left the organisation one after the other.

退tuìzhàng

Please log out of the account before shutting down the computer.

退tuìtái

When the actor left the stage, everyone stood up.

退tuìqún

She left that group chat.

退出 (tuì chū) is leaving something you had joined: a competition, a party, a treaty, a group chat, an app. Its opposite is 加入 or 参加, and the pair works cleanly, so 加入这个群 and 退出这个群 are the two ends of the same story.

It is not the word for walking out of a room. That is 出去 or 离开. 退出 needs a membership, a contest or a running programme to step out of, something with an inside you had signed up to. The nearest English is "withdraw from" rather than "exit".

The computing sense is worth knowing on day one, because it is on every Chinese phone: 退出 is the button for quitting an app and 退出登录 is logging out. 退 on its own also carries the money sense of giving something back, as in 退货 (return goods) and 退票 (refund a ticket), so the character is well worth the effort.

Where this fits

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Mandarin · Free printables

退出: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "退出" (to withdraw, to quit, to leave, to log out): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 45.