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杀死 (shā sǐ) — to kill, to murder, to slay

Definition

verb
to killto murderto slay

Examples

  • 杀死。
    Tā shā sǐ le yì zhī lǎo shǔ.
    He killed a mouse.
  • 杀死。
    Zhè ge xiōng shǒu shā sǐ le sān gè rén.
    The murderer killed three people.
  • 杀死。
    Qiān wàn bù néng shā sǐ nà xiē xiǎo dòng wù.
    You must not kill those small animals.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

杀shākill
死sǐdie

“杀” is the killing action and “死” shows that the target dies.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
歹歹dǎi
Sound part声符shēngfú
尸
尸shī死sǐ
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

死 is built from 歹 and 尸: 歹 is the part tied to the meaning, and 尸 gives the sound.

Open 死 →
Appears in
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