TongTong
Sign in

屠宰 (tú zǎi) — to butcher, to slaughter (animals)

Definition

verb
to butcherto slaughter (animals)

Examples

  • 屠宰。
    Zhè jiā gōng chǎng měi tiān tú zǎi shàng qiān tóu zhū.
    This factory slaughters over a thousand pigs every day.
  • 屠宰。
    Tā men zhèng zài xué xí chuán tǒng de tú zǎi jì shù.
    They are learning traditional butchering techniques.
  • 屠宰。
    Zhèng fǔ jiā qiáng le duì tú zǎi háng yè de jiān guǎn.
    The government has strengthened oversight of the slaughter industry.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

屠túbutcher
宰zǎislaughter

屠 and 宰 both mean to kill animals, so together they name the act of butchering.

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 →

Two 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.

Open 宰 →
Appears in
Meat & Seafood

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.