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惨无人道 (cǎn wú rén dào) — inhuman, brutal, extremely cruel (of actions or treatment)

Definition

A strong, written idiom meaning 'inhuman and utterly cruel' — used to condemn atrocities, not minor wrongdoing. Stronger than plain 残酷; pairs with nouns like 暴行, 行为, 事件.

idiom
inhumanbrutalextremely cruel (of actions or treatment)

Examples

  • 惨无人道，。
    Qīn lüè zhě de xíng wéi cǎn wú rén dào, lìng rén fà zhǐ.
    The invaders' actions were inhuman and made people's hair stand on end.
  • 惨无人道。
    Zhè zhǒng cǎn wú rén dào de bào xíng jī qǐ le quán shì jiè de fèn nù.
    This kind of brutal atrocity aroused the anger of the whole world.
  • 惨无人道。
    Lì shǐ shàng cǎn wú rén dào de shì jiàn lìng rén shēn sī.
    The inhuman events in history make people reflect deeply.

Origin

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 慘; 惨 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
心心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
參
參cān慘cǎn
Same sound today

The traditional form 慘 puts 心 (heart) with 參 as its sound part. The simplified 惨 is a later shorthand, so its shape is not the historical form.

Open 惨 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 無; 无 is its simplified writing.

For the simplified 无, the story is about 無. 無 drew a person dancing with ox tails held in both hands to pray for rain, then was borrowed for 'have no', so the picture does not explain that meaning.

Open 无 →

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

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →

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
行行xíngstreet
止止zhǐfoot
Sound part声符shēngfú
𩠐
首shǒu道dào
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

Early 道 showed a street 行, a foot 止, and a part written 首 or 𩠐; the right part of 行 later disappeared.

Open 道 →
Appears in
Idioms & Set Phrases

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