Is "up" in phrase "cut up" required or optional? If "up" is required, what is the difference between "cut up" and "cut"?

Question

I read the definition of ground beef on Cambridge just now

meat, usually beef, that has been cut up into very small pieces, often using a special machine

Then I realized that there are lots of verbs followed by "up", such as "cut up", "wash up".

Is "up" in this kind of phrases required or optional?

It seems that getting rid of up does affect the meaning at all, for example

ground beef is a kind of beef that has been cut into very small pieces.

Note: this post is NOT about general phrasal verb, such as stand up, turn up.

If "cut up" and "cut" have different meaning, please explain in detail, some other combination like "stand up", "wake up", cannot help me distinguish "cut up" and "cut".

Answer 1

Adding up to a verb sometimes changes the meaning, but not always. (Stand can mean rise to one's feet as in stand up, or be in a standing position.)

In general, to cut something is to make a cut in it, to cut it up is to divide it into pieces. However, as your example goes on to mention very small pieces, you could omit the up without changing the meaning.