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殺人如麻

简杀人如麻 · 繁殺人如麻

Mandarin · pinyin shā rén rú má

(lit.) to kill people like scything flax (idiom)
(fig.) to kill people like flies

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Characters in this entry

殺: Look up this written character
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
如: rú · if, supposing; as if; like, as
麻: má · hemp, jute, flax; sesame; Kangxi radical 200
杀: shā · kill, slaughter, murder; hurt

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–2–2 · sha1 ren2 ru2 ma2

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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.

殺人如麻 · find source passages ↗ · 杀人如麻 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

saat3 jan4 jyu4 maa4

Cantonese word readings for 殺人如麻. 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.

phrase

(simile) to have killed countless people; to have committed countless murders

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

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