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劊子手

简刽子手 · 繁劊子手

Mandarin · pinyin guì zi shǒu

executioner
headsman
slaughterer
fig. indiscriminate murderer

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Characters in this entry

劊: Look up this written character
子: zǐ · offspring, child; fruit, seed of; first earthly branch
手: shǒu · hand
刽: guì · amputate, cut off

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–5–3 · gui4 zi5 shou3

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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.

劊子手 · find source passages ↗ · 刽子手 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

kui2 zi2 sau2

Cantonese word readings for 劊子手. 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.

noun

(historical) executioner; headsman
(figurative) butcher; slaughterer; indiscriminate murderer

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

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