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杀害 (shā hài) — to murder

Definition

杀害 is the formal written verb for 'to murder,' emphasizing the deliberate killing of a person. Stronger than the everyday 杀 (which also covers reducing prices or 'extremely' in colloquial uses).

verb
to murder

Examples

  • 杀害。
    Tā shā hài le yì míng wú gū de shì mín.
    He murdered an innocent citizen.
  • 杀害。
    Zhè qǐ shā hài àn zhèn jīng le zhěng gè chéng shì.
    This murder case shocked the entire city.
  • 杀害。
    Lì shǐ shàng yǒu hěn duō rén bèi shā hài.
    Many people were murdered in history.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

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

杀shākill
害hàiharm

杀 and 害 both describe doing fatal harm, together meaning to murder.

Characters in this word

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 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
宀宀mián
口口kǒu
Sound part声符shēngfú
丯
丯jiè害hài
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

害 was borrowed purely for its sound. Its old picture, possibly a house rafter, is unrelated to harm.

Open 害 →
Appears in
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