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殺

简 杀 · 繁 殺
Mandarin · pinyin shā

Meanings

  1. to kill; to slay; to murder; to attack
  2. to weaken; to reduce
  3. (dialect) to smart
  4. (used after a verb) extremely
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Characters in this entry

殺
Look up this written character
杀
shā · kill, slaughter, murder; hurt
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Entries containing 殺 ↗Words written with 殺 ↗Words written with 杀 ↗

Mandarin tones

1 · sha1

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Connected dictionary

1character link24same-tone records
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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

殺 · find source passages ↗ · 杀 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

saai3 · saat3

Cantonese word readings for 殺. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

character · Etymology 1

  1. (transitive) to kill; to murder
  2. to ruin; to harm
  3. to fight
  4. (dialectal, transitive) to cut; to slice (fruit, food)
  5. (transitive) to abate; to reduce
  6. (regional, colloquial) to sting
  7. (chess, xiangqi or similar games) to checkmate; to check
  8. (Hokkien) ruthless; ferocious; fierce
  9. (Hokkien) to butcher, especially by using a blade to drain its blood to death (of animals)
  10. (Taiwanese Hokkien) willing to part with something

character · Etymology 2

  1. (literary) to pare off; to diminish; to reduce; to clip

character · Etymology 3

  1. (obsolete) dark
  2. (alt-of, alternative) alternative form of 𥻦 (sà, “to spread; to exile”)

character · Etymology 4

  1. only used in 蹩殺／蹩杀

character · Etymology 5

  1. only used in 降殺／降杀

character · Etymology 7

  1. (Hokkien) alternative form of 刣 (thâi)

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack