Meaning & readings
kill, murder, butcher, slice off, split, diminish, reduce, spoil
On’yomi サツ、サイ、セツ
Kun’yomi ころ.す、-ごろ.し、そ.ぐ、あや.める
Origin
The character 殺 combines two visual elements to represent the act of killing or cutting. The top part 几 represents a person or body in a particular position, while the bottom part 又 means "hand" or "arm." Together, these components suggest a hand acting forcefully on a body—the core idea of killing, cutting, or destroying something. This compound-ideographic formation visually conveys the sense of violent action or severing, which is why the character carries meanings ranging from murder to slicing off or diminishing.
Components
- 几
- 又
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 10
- Kangxi radical
- 79
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Grade 5 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #581 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+06BBA