服毒 (fú dú) — to take (ingest) poison | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

服毒 means deliberately ingesting poison, usually to kill oneself. The first character 服 here means 'to take (medicine/poison)', not 'clothing' (衣服).

verb

to take (ingest) poison

Examples

服毒。
Tā yīn yì shí xiǎng bù kāi ér fú dú zì shā.
He tried to commit suicide by taking poison because he was momentarily unable to think clearly.
。
Tā zài yī yuàn bèi chá chū céng fú guò dú.
At the hospital, he was found to have taken poison before.
服毒。
Jǐng fāng huái yí sǐ zhě shì zì yuàn fú dú de.
The police suspect that the deceased took the poison voluntarily.

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

To 服 poison, where 毒 means poison.

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

凡凡fántray

Sound part声符shēngfú

𠬝

𠬝𠬝服fú

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 服, the part 𠬝 was the original picture for 'to subdue'; the added left part 凡, a tray, later changed shape.

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

Safety & Danger

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