rend, rip, tear, break, destroy, defeat, frustrate
破 centers on forceful separation: tearing, ripping, or breaking something apart. Its extended senses of destroying, defeating, or frustrating follow naturally from the idea of breaking something down.
破 combines 石 (stone) and 皮 (skin/hide), suggesting the action of breaking or tearing with a stone. The phonetic contribution of 皮 is likely, but the exact historical development is uncertain.
A stone 石 strikes against skin or hide 皮, tearing and breaking it apart. Picture a sharp rock ripping through leather.
For ハ, imagine a stone breaking a piece of hard bark with a sharp crack: hard bark -> ハ, and the stone tears right through it.
destruction; disruption
to tear; to rip; to break; to destroy
breaking through; breakthrough; penetration
destructive blast; blowing up; explosion
bankruptcy; insolvency
failure; collapse; breakdown; break-up; bankruptcy
damage; breakage
tearing up and discarding (e.g. documents); destruction
tear; rip; breach; break; hole; crack; breakdown; collapse
ruin; destruction; fall
defeating; crushing; smashing; destroying
middle section of a song (in gagaku or noh)
bursting; rupture; explosion
fragment; broken piece; splinter; chip; shard
serious damage; heavy damage; being wrecked
defeating an argument; winning an argument; refutation; confutation
catastrophe; cataclysm
breaking down; defeating; abolishing
extraordinary; exceptional; unprecedented; special; abnormal; irregular
crushing (into pieces); smashing; cracking; breaking up