HSK 5 · Verbs

杀 shā “to kill” in Chinese

Traditional 殺

What 杀 means

  1. to kill
  2. to murder
  3. to slay
  4. to attack
  5. to weaken
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to reduce
  • (used after a verb) extremely

How to say 杀

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale杀shā1st tone, high and level

杀 in a sentence

  1. 我不敢杀鱼，都是我妈杀的。

    Wǒ bù gǎn shā yú, dōu shì wǒ mā shā de.

    I can’t bring myself to kill a fish, so my mum always does it.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 这种药能杀死细菌。

    Zhè zhǒng yào néng shā sǐ xìjūn.

    This medicine can kill bacteria.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 杀 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 杀 (shā) with each of its parts in a different colour
杀shāto kill; to slay; to murder; to attack
  • 乂to govern · yì
  • 木tree · mù

How to write 杀

杀 6 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

杀 (shā) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 杀 (shā). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 杀

Words with 杀

抹杀mǒshā · to write off

More words: Common Verbs

燃烧ránshāo · to burn绕rào · to wind忍不住rěnbuzhù · cannot help洒sǎ · to sprinkle晒shài · to dry in the sun上当shàngdàng · to be fooled舍不得shěbude · to hate to part with伸shēn · to stretch

FAQs

杀 (shā) means “to kill” or “to murder”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it shā: shā with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 杀 is written 殺. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type sha with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 杀 from the suggestions. Typing sha into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
杀 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.