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厮杀 (sī shā) — to fight at close quarters with weapons; to massacre or kill each other in battle

Definition

A literary, vivid verb meaning 'to fight at close quarters with weapons' — bloodier and more intense than the everyday 打 or 战斗. Almost exclusively for violent combat scenes, often in writing or wuxia contexts.

verb
to fight at close quarters with weaponsto massacre or kill each other in battle

Examples

  • 厮杀。
    Liǎng guó jūn duì zài biān jìng zhǎn kāi le jī liè de sī shā.
    The two armies engaged in fierce close-quarters combat at the border.
  • 厮杀。
    Wǔ xiá xiǎo shuō lǐ de gāo shǒu men tōng cháng huì sī shā shù shí huí hé.
    In martial arts novels, masters often fight dozens of rounds at close quarters.
  • 厮杀。
    Zhè bù diàn yǐng zhēn shí dì zhǎn xiàn le gǔ dài zhàn shì men de cán kù sī shā.
    This film realistically portrays the brutal close-quarters combat of ancient warriors.

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.

厮sīmutually
杀shākill

厮 means mutually and 杀 means kill, together meaning to kill each other in fighting.

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
厂厂chǎng
Sound part声符shēngfú
斯
斯sī厮sī
Same sound today

厮 combines 厂 with 斯; the 斯 part gives its sound.

Open 厮 →

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
Military & Defense

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