摘要：“Raze”源自14世纪中古英语 rasen，来自古法语 raser（刮平、摧毁），追溯至拉丁语 rasum，为 radere（刮、削）的过去分词。最初指“刮平”或“夷平”，后演变为动词，意为“彻底摧毁”或“拆除”，尤指建筑物或城市。

raze

[RAZE]

英 [reɪz] 美 [reɪz]

v.夷为平地；摧毁；消除；抹去

◉词源

“Raze”源自14世纪中古英语 rasen，来自古法语 raser（刮平、摧毁），追溯至拉丁语 rasum，为 radere（刮、削）的过去分词。最初指“刮平”或“夷平”，后演变为动词，意为“彻底摧毁”或“拆除”，尤指建筑物或城市。

◉外刊例句

① 《经济学人》（The Economist），2024年10月5日

The old factory was razed to make way for a park.

老工厂被夷平，为公园建设让路。

② 《纽约时报》（The New York Times），2023年11月12日

The village was razed during the conflict, leaving nothing behind.

村庄在冲突中被摧毁，一无所有。

③ 《卫报》（The Guardian），2025年1月8日

Developers plan to raze historic buildings for a new mall.

开发商计划拆毁历史建筑以建新商场。

◉经典名著

① 《哈姆雷特》（Hamlet），威廉·莎士比亚（William Shakespeare），约1600年

Grief razed his hopes to ashes.

悲伤将他的希望化为灰烬。

② 《双城记》（A Tale of Two Cities），查尔斯·狄更斯（Charles Dickens），1859年

The mob razed the Bastille’s walls.

暴民摧毁了巴士底狱的墙壁。

◉Usage Examples

(1) The city was razed by an earthquake.

(2) The troops attacked his village and razed it to the ground.

(1) 地震把这个城市夷为平地。

(2) 军队攻击了他的村子，把村子夷为平地。

◉Usage Notes

Raze means to tear an object down to the ground. Before Donald Trump can raze that family's home to build another skyscraper, he's going to have to cut them a big check.

Raze is most often used to refer to knocking buildings down for construction projects, but it can also describe tearing down other objects. You can raze the sand dunes in order to make the beach perfectly flat. Raze comes from the word rasen, meaning "to scrape or erase," and it sounds similar to the word erase, which can help you remember its meaning. If you raze something, in a way it has been erased — it no longer exists in its previous form.

◉柯林斯词典

1[VERB 动词]把（建筑或城镇）夷为平地；彻底摧毁 If buildings, villages or towns are razed or razed to the ground, they are completely destroyed. [be V-ed] [be V-ed to n] [usu passive]

① Dozens of villages have been razed...

几十个村庄被夷为平地。

② Towns such as Mittelwihr and Bennwihr were virtually razed to the ground.

如米特维尔和本维尔这样的城镇基本上被夷为平地。

来源：学无用的英语