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出人命 (chū rén mìng) — to result in a death, to be fatal

Definition

A set phrase meaning a situation results in someone's death — used for accidents, disasters, or incidents that turn fatal. Concretely '出' here means 'produce / result in', paired with '人命' (a human life).

verb
to result in a deathto be fatal

Examples

  • 出人命。
    Zhè cì chē huò chū rén mìng le.
    This car accident resulted in a death.
  • 。
    Tīng shuō nà ge gōng dì chū guò rén mìng.
    I heard that construction site has had fatalities before.
  • 出人命，。
    Xìng hǎo méi yǒu chū rén mìng, bù rán jiù má fan le.
    Luckily no one died, otherwise it would have been a big problem.

Origin

Characters in this word

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

出 combines 止 (foot) and 凵 (cave) to show a foot stepping out of a cave.

Open 出 →

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

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →

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
口口kǒumouth
Sound part声符shēngfú
令
令lìng命mìng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

命 combines 口, a mouth, with 令, which gives the sound.

Open 命 →
Appears in
Safety & Danger

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