殺

• In traditional Chinese (based on the modern character forms used in Taiwan and Hong Kong), the bottom left component is 朮 (𣎳 with an additional dot at its top right corner).
• In mainland China (based on the Xin Zixing (新字形) standardized character forms), the bottom left component is 朩 instead which is one stroke less.
• In Korean hanja, the bottom left component is 术, which is also the historical form found in the Kangxi dictionary.
• In Japanese shinjitai and Vietnamese Nôm, the bottom left component is 木 which is one stroke less.
• Three CJK Compatibility Ideographs exist for this character:
  • U+F970 corresponds to the Japanese kyūjitai form containing 术 which is similar to the historical Kangxi form.
  • U+FA96 corresponds to the alternative Korean form which is similar to the Japanese shinjitai form containing 木.
  • U+2F8F5 is similar to the traditional form in Taiwan but has 𣎳 (without dot at top right corner) instead of 朮 as its bottom left component.

殺 (Kangxi radical 79, 殳+7 in traditional Chinese and Korean, 殳+6 in mainland China and Japanese, 11 strokes in traditional Chinese and Korean, 10 strokes in mainland China and Japanese, cangjie input 大金竹弓水 (KCHNE) or 大木竹弓水 (KDHNE), four-corner 4794₇, composition ⿰⿱㐅朩殳(G) or ⿰⿱㐅朮殳(HT) or ⿰⿱㐅木殳(JV or U+FA96) or ⿰⿱㐅术殳(K or U+F970) or ⿰⿱㐅𣎳殳(U+2F8F5))

• 杀 (Simplified Chinese)

• 摋, 𣻑, 樧/榝, 䊛, 鎩, 蔱, 𪄅

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 585, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 16638
• Dae Jaweon: page 978, character 5
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 2157, character 1
• Unihan data for U+6BBA
• Unihan data for U+F970
• Unihan data for U+FA96
• Unihan data for U+2F8F5

In the oracle bone script, it was an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) of a boar that had been impaled in the head.

In the seal script, the original compound was corrupted into 𣏂 (sometimes written as 杀). It was also in the seal script that the pictogram (象形) : 人 (“person”) + 又 (“right hand”), which was later corrupted into 殳 (“spear”) or 攴, was added under the head of the boar to specify the killing was done by a person.

The modern-day character inherits this and can be thought of as a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sreːds, *sreːd) : phonetic 𣏂 () + semantic 殳 (“spear”).

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g/b-sat (“to kill”); compare Tibetan བསད (bsad), perfect of Tibetan གསོད (gsod, “to kill”), Proto-Lolo-Burmese *C-sat (“to kill”), Japhug sat (“to kill”) (STEDT; Schuessler, 2007; Zhang, Jacques and Lai, 2019).

殺

1. (transitive) to kill; to murder

   我殺咗隻烏蠅。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   我杀咗只乌蝇。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   ngo⁵ saat³ zo² zek³ wu¹ jing^4-1. [Jyutping]

   I killed a fly.

2. to ruin; to harm
3. to fight
4. (dialectal, transitive) to cut; to slice (fruit, food)

   殺西瓜／杀西瓜  ―  shā xīguā  ―  to cut a watermelon

5. (transitive) to abate; to reduce

   殺價／杀价  ―  shājià  ―  to bargain

6. (regional, colloquial) to sting
7. (chess) to mate; short for 將殺／将杀 (jiāngshā) ("to checkmate")
8. (Hokkien) ruthless; ferocious; fierce
9. (Hokkien) to butcher, especially by using a blade to drain its blood to death (of animals)

   殺雞／杀鸡 [Hokkien]  ―  soah koe [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  to butcher a chicken by draining its blood with a knife

10. (Taiwanese Hokkien) willing to part with something

• Normally, the subject of 殺 should be animate. The sentence "A tiger killed many people." can be validly translated as 老虎殺死數人, while the sentence "This accident killed many people." is seldom translated as *這次事故殺死數人. For death caused by non-living things, split forms of 致死 (zhìsǐ) are often used instead:

  這次事故致數人死亡。 [MSC, trad.]
  这次事故致数人死亡。 [MSC, simp.]

  Zhè cì shìgù zhì shù rén sǐwáng. [Pinyin]

  This accident caused many people's deaths.

• (to kill):

From 衰 (OC *sʰrol, *srul, “to diminish; to decay”) + final *-t (Schuessler, 2007).

殺

1. ^† to pare off; to diminish; to reduce; to clip

   • 隆殺之義辨矣。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     隆杀之义辨矣。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Xunzi, c. 3^rd century BCE

     Lóngshā zhī yì biàn yǐ. [Pinyin]

     The principle of increase and dimunution (of sumptuary allowances) is defined.

殺

1. ^† dark
2. Alternative form of 𥻦 (“to spread; to exile”)

殺

1. Only used in 蹩殺／蹩杀.

殺

1. Only used in 降殺／降杀.

• “殺”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 殺)

1. to kill

From Middle Chinese 殺 (MC sreat):

• Go-on: せち (sechi); せつ (setsu, Jōyō ^†)
• Kan-on: さつ (satsu, Jōyō)

From Middle Chinese 殺 (MC sreajH):

• Go-on: せい (sei)
• Kan-on: さい (sai, Jōyō ^†)
• Kan’yō-on: さつ (satsu, Jōyō)

From native Japanese roots:

• Kun: ころす (korosu, 殺す, Jōyō); あやめる (ayameru, 殺める); そぐ (sogu, 殺ぐ); へらす (herasu, 殺らす)

From Middle Chinese 殺 (MC sreat).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [sʰa̠ɭ]
• Phonetic hangul: [살]

Wikisource 殺 (eumhun 죽일 살 (jugil sal))

1. Hanja form^? of 살 (“to kill”).

From Middle Chinese 殺 (MC sreajH).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [sʰwɛ(ː)] ~ [sʰwe̞(ː)]
• Phonetic hangul: [쇄(ː)/쉐(ː)]
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

殺 (eumhun 감할 쇄 (gamhal swae))

1. Hanja form^? of 쇄 (“to pare off; to diminish; to reduce; to clip”).

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

殺: Hán Nôm readings: sát, sái, sít, sịt, sướt, sét, sượt

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