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杀敌 (shā dí) — to kill the enemy (in combat)

Definition

A set phrase meaning 'to kill the enemy' in combat — used in military/written register, not casual speech. The verb 杀 alone means 'to kill' generally.

verb
to kill the enemy (in combat)

Examples

  • 杀敌。
    Zhàn shì men fèn yǒng shā dí.
    The soldiers fought the enemy bravely.
  • ，。
    Tā yí gè rén shā le sān gè dí, lì le dà gōng.
    He killed three enemies single-handedly and made a great contribution.
  • 杀敌。
    Zhè chǎng zhàn yì wǒ men shā dí wú shù.
    In this battle, we killed countless enemies.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

杀shākill
敌díenemy

杀 means to kill and 敌 means enemy, so together they denote killing the enemy.

Characters in this word

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 →

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 敵; 敌 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
攴攴pūto tap; to hit
Sound part声符shēngfú
啻
啻chì敵dí
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 敵 pairs 啻 as a sound part with 攴, a part for tapping or hitting.

Open 敌 →
Appears in
Military & Defense

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