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下毒手 (xià dú shǒu) — to strike a vicious blow; to resort to murderous measures (against someone)

Definition

A set phrase meaning to 'strike a vicious, murderous blow' against someone. Carries strong negative connotation — used for ruthless, lethal attacks, not ordinary harm.

verb
to strike a vicious blowto resort to murderous measures (against someone)

Examples

  • 下毒手。
    Tā men àn zhōng jì huà duì jìng zhēng duì shǒu xià dú shǒu.
    They secretly plotted to strike a vicious blow against their competitor.
  • ，。
    Tā xīn hěn shǒu là, duì wú gū de rén xià le dú shǒu.
    He was ruthless and carried out a vicious attack on innocent people.
  • 。
    Xiǎo shuō lǐ de fǎn pài zuì zhōng duì zhǔ jué xià le dú shǒu.
    The villain in the novel finally struck a murderous blow against the protagonist.

Origin

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

下 is drawn as a short horizontal line below a long curved line.

Open 下 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
屮屮chèvegetation
Sound part声符shēngfú
毐
毐ǎi毒dú
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

毒 pairs 屮, a plant part, with 毐 as a sound part; this form was used for a poisonous plant.

Open 毒 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

手 draws a five-fingered human hand: the top line is a bent middle finger, and the horizontal lines show the other four fingers.

Open 手 →
Appears in
Crime & PoliceConflict & Agreement

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