搏杀 (bó shā) — to fight desperately; to engage in a life-and-death struggle; to compete fiercely (in business, sports, etc.)

Definition

搏杀 (bóshā) is a dramatic verb for 'fighting to the death' — physically (combat) or metaphorically (fierce business or sports rivalry). Stronger and more literary than ordinary 竞争.

verb
to fight desperatelyto engage in a life-and-death struggleto compete fiercely (in business, sports, etc.)

Examples

  • 搏杀。
    Liǎng jūn zài zhèn qián bó shā le zhěng zhěng yì tiān.
    The two armies fought desperately at the front for an entire day.
  • 搏杀。
    Zhè jiā gōng sī kào jià gé zhàn zài shì chǎng zhōng bó shā.
    This company fights fiercely in the market through price wars.
  • 搏杀。
    Jué sài zhōng liǎng wèi xuǎn shǒu bó shā dào le zuì hòu yí kè.
    The two players fought desperately in the final until the last moment.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéSide by side

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

搏bófight
杀shākill

Both 搏 and 杀 describe violent struggle, giving the meaning of a life-and-death fight.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
手手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
尃
尃fū搏bó
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

搏 puts 手 (hand) beside 尃, which gives the sound; the hand part points to actions done with the hand.

Open 搏 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 殺; 杀 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 殺 comes from an old drawing of a boar impaled in the head, with 人 and 又 added to show a person doing the killing; the simplified 杀 is a later abbreviation.

Open 杀 →

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