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毒杀 (dú shā) — to kill with poison; to poison someone to death

Definition

A formal verb meaning to kill by poison (people, animals, or pests). 比 下毒 more clinical and written — used in news, legal, and scientific contexts rather than casual speech.

verb
to kill with poisonto poison someone to death

Examples

  • 毒杀。
    Xiōng shǒu yòng dú yào dú shā le bèi hài rén.
    The murderer poisoned the victim to death.
  • 毒杀。
    Zhè zhǒng nóng yào zhuān mén yòng lái dú shā hài chóng.
    This pesticide is specifically used to poison pests.
  • 毒杀。
    Gǔ dài yǒu hěn duō rén bèi dú shā.
    In ancient times, many people were killed with poison.

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.

毒dúpoison
杀shākill

毒 (poison) and 杀 (kill) combine to mean killing by 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
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.

Open 毒 →

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 →
Appears in
Crime & PoliceSafety & Danger

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