谋杀罪 (móu shā zuì) — the crime of murder

Definition

noun

the crime of murder

Measure word · 项

Examples

谋杀罪。
Tā bèi pàn chǔ móu shā zuì.
He was sentenced for murder.
谋杀罪。
Jǐng fāng zhèng zài diào chá zhè qǐ móu shā zuì.
The police are investigating this murder case.
谋杀罪。
móu shā zuì Shì yì zhǒng yán zhòng de fàn zuì xíng wéi.
Murder is a serious crime.

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.

谋杀murder

谋móuplot杀shākill

偏正Modifier + head

罪zuìcrime

谋 (plot) and 杀 (kill) give murder, and 罪 (crime) marks it as a legal offense.

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 謀; 谋 is its simplified writing.

言某謀

Meaning part形符xíngfú

言言yán

Sound part声符shēngfú

某

某mǒu謀móu

Same sound today

The traditional form 謀 uses 言 to show it relates to speech and 某 to show its sound; the simplified 谋 is a later shorthand.

Open 谋 →

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.

人人rénperson
又又yòuright hand

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 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

罒非罪