除了
Meaning
- apart from; besides; in addition to (used to exclude, as in 除了他，谁也没来 "apart from him, nobody came", or to include, as in 除了英语，他也会法语 "in addition to English, he also knows French")
- (used to introduce one of two habitual alternatives in the pattern 除了 + A + 就是 + B, "either A or B")
Example sentence
他们解除了婚约。
They called off their engagement.
Characters in 除了
- 除 chú to remove, to get rid of; to divide; except
- 了 le (completed action marker)
除 to remove plus 了. Removing something from consideration, and it pairs with 以外 or 还 to say besides.