妖术 (yāo shù) — sorcery; witchcraft
Definition
妖术 (yāo shù) is a literary word for evil supernatural magic — 'sorcery, witchcraft'. It pairs with villains like 巫师 in fiction and folklore, distinguishing dark arts from neutral terms like 魔术 (stage magic).
noun
sorcerywitchcraft
Examples
- 妖术。Chuán shuō zhōng tā néng yòng yāo shù hū fēng huàn yǔ.Legend says she can summon wind and rain with sorcery.
- 妖术。Nà xiē cūn mín huái yí tā xué le yāo shù.Those villagers suspected he had learned witchcraft.
- 妖术。Xiǎo shuō lǐ xié è de wū shī jīng tōng gè zhǒng yāo shù.In the novel, the evil wizard is proficient in various sorcery.
Origin
Compound word构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head
The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.
“妖” gives the idea of supernatural or demonic, while “术” means technique, so together they refer to sorcery.
Appears in
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