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凶杀 (xiōng shā) — to murder, to commit murder

Definition

verb
to murderto commit murder

Examples

  • 凶杀。
    Tā xiōng shā le yí gè rén.
    He murdered a person.
  • 凶杀。
    Nà ge zuì fàn xiōng shā le liǎng gè rén.
    That criminal murdered two people.
  • 凶杀。
    Tā xiōng shā le yì míng jǐng chá.
    He murdered a police officer.

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.

凶xiōngmurderous
杀shākill

It combines 凶, meaning violent or murderous, with 杀, meaning kill, to denote murder.

Characters in this word

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

凶 originally drew a hole with a lump of rock, mud, stone, or bamboo in it.

Open 凶 →

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 & Police

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