宰 (zǎi) — to slaughter, to butcher (an animal); (colloquial) to rip off, to overcharge (a customer)
Definition
宰 has two unrelated meanings: literally 'to slaughter (an animal)' (more vivid than 屠杀 'massacre'); colloquially 'to rip off' a customer — same spoken sense as 敲, but 敲 more often pairs with 诈 to mean extort.
verb
to slaughterto butcher (an animal)(colloquial) to rip offto overcharge (a customer)
Examples
- 宰。Tā men jiā de xí sú shì měi nián chūn jié qián zǎi yì tóu zhū.Their family tradition is to slaughter a pig before every Spring Festival.
- ，宰。Nà ge sī jī kàn wǒ men shì wài dì rén, xiǎng zǎi wǒ men yì bǐ.That driver, seeing we were from out of town, tried to rip us off.
- 宰。Yóu kè zài zhè tiáo jiē shàng mǎi dōng xī hěn róng yì bèi zǎi.Tourists shopping on this street are easily overcharged.
Origin
Compound ideograph六书liùshū
会意huìyìTwo or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.
- 宀宀miánhouse
- 乂乂yìto govern
The lower part of 宰 comes from 乂, 'to govern'; with 宀, 'house', it makes a house of government.
Appears in
Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.