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屠夫 (tú fū) — butcher (person who slaughters animals for meat); ruthless ruler; tyrant (metaphorical)

Definition

Literally "butcher" — the person who slaughters animals, and by metaphor a cruel, bloodthirsty ruler who "butchers" the people. The literal sense is concrete; the second sense is a strong, literary insult.

noun
butcher (person who slaughters animals for meat)ruthless rulertyrant (metaphorical)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 屠夫。
    Zhè ge tú fū měi tiān líng chén sān diǎn jiù kāi shǐ gōng zuò.
    This butcher starts work at three o'clock every morning.
  • 屠夫，。
    Lì shǐ shàng yǒu xiē tǒng zhì zhě bèi chēng wéi tú fū, yīn wèi tā men cán bào wú qíng.
    Some rulers in history were called butchers because they were cruel and heartless.
  • 屠夫。
    Nà ge tú fū bǎ xīn zhèng gǎo dé mín bù liáo shēng.
    That tyrant made life unbearable for the people with his new policies.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

屠túslaughter
夫fūperson

屠 indicates slaughtering, and 夫 points to a person, so the word names a butcher.

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
尸尸shībody
Sound part声符shēngfú
者
者zhě屠tú
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

屠 combines 尸 (body) with 者, which gives the sound.

Open 屠 →

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

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

夫 originally drew a man. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write a pronoun, so the picture and the pronoun meaning are unrelated.

Open 夫 →
Appears in
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