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罪魁祸首 (zuì kuí huò shǒu) — (idiom) chief culprit, main offender; (figurative) the primary cause of a disaster or problem

Definition

An idiom meaning 'chief culprit' — the person or thing most responsible for a crime, disaster, or problem. Stronger and more literary than just calling someone the 'main cause' (主要原因).

idiom
chief culpritmain offender
phrase
(figurative) the primary cause of a disaster or problem

Examples

  • 罪魁祸首。
    Qì hòu biàn huà shì xǔ duō zì rán zāi hài de zuì kuí huò shǒu.
    Climate change is the main culprit of many natural disasters.
  • 罪魁祸首。
    Jǐng fāng zhōng yú zhuā huò le zhè ge fàn zuì tuán huǒ de zuì kuí huò shǒu.
    The police finally captured the ringleader of this criminal gang.
  • 罪魁祸首。
    Zhè cì shī bài de zuì kuí huò shǒu shì tā de cū xīn dà yi.
    The main cause of this failure was his carelessness.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

罪魁chief of crimes
罪zuìcrime魁kuíchief
偏正Modifier + head
祸首chief of disasters
祸huòdisaster首shǒumain figure
偏正Modifier + head

罪 and 祸 name crimes and disasters, 魁 and 首 name the main figure; together they point to the chief offender.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

罪 puts 罒 (a net, written fully as 网) over 非 (mistake).

Open 罪 →

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
斗斗dòuladle
Sound part声符shēngfú
鬼
鬼guǐ魁kuí
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

魁 pairs 斗, a ladle, with 鬼, which supplies the sound. The evidence identifies the original thing as a soup ladle.

Open 魁 →

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 禍; 祸 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
示示shìsacrifice
Sound part声符shēngfú
咼
咼wāi禍huò
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The simplified 祸 is an abbreviation of traditional 禍, which pairs 示 (sacrifice) with 咼 to show pronunciation.

Open 祸 →

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

The shape comes from an old drawing of an animal's head, showing a long mouth and horns; the version with hair became 首.

Open 首 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Crime & PoliceIdioms & Set Phrases

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.