殊死 (shū sǐ) — desperate struggle; life-or-death fight | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Used only as an attributive before verbs/nouns like 搏斗, 抵抗, 努力 to mean 'desperate, life-or-death'. It is an adjective, not a true noun — always modify a following word.

noun

desperate strugglelife-or-death fight

Measure word · 场

Examples

殊死。
Tā men yǔ dí rén zhǎn kāi le shū sǐ bó dòu.
They engaged in a desperate struggle with the enemy.
，殊死。
Zài zhè cì zāi nàn zhōng, jiù yuán rén yuán zuò le shū sǐ nǔ lì.
During this disaster, the rescue workers made desperate efforts.
，殊死。
Jǐn guǎn xíng shì wēi xiǎn, tā men réng rán jìn xíng shū sǐ dǐ kàng.
Despite the dangerous situation, they still put up a desperate resistance.

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.

殊shūdecisive

'殊' suggests a decisive kind of '死' (death), so the word denotes a life-and-death struggle.

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.

歺朱殊

Meaning part形符xíngfú

歺Written in full as歹dǎi

Sound part声符shēngfú

朱

朱zhū殊shū

Same sound today

The left part of 殊 is 歹, the meaning part; the right part is 朱, the sound part.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

尸

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

死 is built from 歹 and 尸: 歹 is the part tied to the meaning, and 尸 gives the sound.

Appears in

Conflict & Agreement

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