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误杀 (wù shā) — to kill by accident; (legally) to cause unintentional death; to commit manslaughter

Definition

A legal/crime-context term for causing a death unintentionally, contrasted with 谋杀 (premeditated murder). The focus is on the lack of intent, not on carelessness per se.

verb
to kill by accident(legally) to cause unintentional deathto commit manslaughter

Examples

  • 误杀。
    Tā yīn wèi wù shā bèi pàn le sān nián.
    He was sentenced to three years for manslaughter.
  • 误杀。
    Sī jī zài shì gù zhōng wù shā le yí gè xíng rén.
    The driver accidentally killed a pedestrian in the accident.
  • 误杀，。
    Zhè qǐ àn jiàn bèi dìng xìng wèi wù shā, bú shì móu shā.
    This case was classified as manslaughter, not murder.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

误wùby mistake
杀shākill

误 means by mistake, and 杀 means kill, so the result is killing accidentally.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 誤; 误 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánspeech
Sound part声符shēngfú
吳
吳wú誤wù
Same sound today

The traditional form 誤 uses 言 (speech) for meaning and 吳 for sound, giving the idea of speaking an error; the simplified 误 is a later shorthand.

Open 误 →

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 →
Appears in
Crime & Police

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