책임을 회피하다

The phrase '책임을 회피하다' (chaegimeul hoephihada) is composed of three parts: 1. **책임 (chaegim):** This noun means 'responsibility,' 'duty,' or 'accountability.' It is derived from Chinese characters: * **責 (chaek):** meaning 'to blame,' 'to reprove,' or 'responsibility.' * **任 (im):** meaning 'duty,' 'office,' 'burden,' or 'to entrust.' The combination of these characters conveys the idea of a duty or burden for which one can be held accountable. 2. **을 (eul):** This is an object particle in Korean grammar, indicating that '책임' is the direct object of the verb that follows. It doesn't carry a separate meaning but marks the grammatical function of the preceding noun. 3. **회피하다 (hoephihada):** This verb means 'to avoid,' 'to evade,' 'to shirk,' or 'to dodge.' It is also derived from Chinese characters: * **回 (hoe):** meaning 'to return,' 'to turn back,' or 'to go around.' In this context, it implies turning away or moving back from something. * **避 (phi):** meaning 'to avoid,' 'to shun,' 'to escape,' or 'to take refuge.' The combination of these characters strongly conveys the action of intentionally moving away from or trying to escape something undesirable. Therefore, '책임을 회피하다' literally translates to 'to avoid responsibility' or 'to evade duty,' perfectly capturing the English meaning 'to shirk or evade one's duties or accountability.'