除了

1. • 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")
2. • (used to introduce one of two habitual alternatives in the pattern 除了 chúle + A + 就是 jiùshì + B, "either A or B")

Character by character

• 除(chú)get rid of
• 了(le)marks a completed action