下毒 (xià dú) — to poison, to put poison into (food/drink/etc.) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A separable verb meaning 'to poison (food or drink)' — 下 and 毒 split around objects or 了/过 (下了毒, 下过毒). Focuses on the deliberate act of adding poison, distinct from generic 'to poison' like 毒害 (to harm/corrupt).

verb

to poisonto put poison into (food/drink/etc.)

Examples

下毒。
Yǒu rén zài jǐng lǐ xià dú.
Someone poisoned the well.
。
Tā gěi nà bēi jiǔ xià le dú.
He poisoned that glass of wine.
。
Zhè ge xiōng shǒu zài shí wù lǐ xià guò dú.
This murderer has poisoned food before.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

毒dúpoison

下 means put in or administer and 毒 means poison, giving the sense of putting poison into something.

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.

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.

Appears in

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.