漢字Kanji · in Tools & Weapons
殺: kill, murder
Also: butcher, slice off, split, diminish, reduce, spoil
殳 carries the meaning · 乂 and 木 are drawn in
Small seal · Qin Today
Small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Five readings, and the words that use each
サツsatsu · on'yomi · in compounds
- 殺人さつじんmurder
- 殺風景なさっぷうけいなtasteless, dreary
- 殺害するさつがいするkill, murder
- 殺菌するさっきんするsterilize, disinfect
- 殺到するさっとうするthrong, flood, rush [v.i.]
- 暗殺するあんさつするassassinate
- 自殺するじさつするcommit suicide
- 毒殺するどくさつするpoison, kill by poison
サイsai · on'yomi
- 相殺するそうさいするoffset, cancel out
セツsetsu · on'yomi
- 殺生するせっしょうするkill, destroy life
ころすkorosu · kun'yomi · on its own
- 殺すころすkill, murder
-ごろし-goroshi · kun'yomi
- 人殺しひとごろしmurderer
Also read そぐ, あやめる, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Pictogram (象形)人 person + 又 right hand
In the oracle bone script, it was an ideogrammic compound (會意) of a boar that had been impaled in the head.
Source: Wiktionary, 殺 (rev. 93648092), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Hand/tool + lance shaft (殳). A violent "action" taken with a "lance" or weapon—the literal representation of the act of killing.”
Connections
Also built on 乂
Also read サツ
9 kanji share this on'yomiAlso read セツ
11 kanji share this on'yomiEasy to confuse
The difference, side by sideIn ChineseSimplified 杀 · traditional, as in Japanese · shā
Japan keeps the traditional form 殺; mainland China simplifies it to 杀.
- Simplified
- 杀 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 殺 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin shā most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.