Meaning of 自杀
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- to kill oneself
- to commit suicide
- to attempt suicide
How to use 自杀
自杀 is a neutral, serious word used in news, medicine, and everyday talk about suicide. It works as a verb or as a noun, as in 自杀率 (zìshā lǜ, suicide rate). Example: 他曾经想过自杀。(Tā céngjīng xiǎng guo zìshā.) He once thought about killing himself.
自 (zì) means self, as in 自己 (zìjǐ), and 杀 (shā) means to kill. Put them together and you get to kill oneself.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes write 杀 with an extra dot or confuse it with 条 (tiáo), which has a similar lower part. Also, 自杀 already includes "oneself," so do not say 自杀自己.
自杀 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
自 zì · self · 6 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
杀 shā · to kill · 6 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
Related words
Words that share a character with 自杀.
| 自己 | zìjǐ | oneself; (attributive) one's own |
| 自由 | zìyóu | freedom; liberty; free; unrestricted |
| 来自 | láizì | to come from (a place); From: (in email header) |
| 自行车 | zìxíngchē | bicycle; bike |
| 大自然 | dàzìrán | nature (the natural world) |
| 自然 | zìrán | nature; natural |
| 自从 | zìcóng | since (a time); ever since |
| 亲自 | qīnzì | personally; in person |
| 自动 | zìdòng | automatic; voluntarily |
| 各自 | gèzì | each; respective |
| 自身 | zìshēn | itself; oneself |
| 自觉 | zìjué | to realize; to be aware of; to feel that; to be conscious of (sth relating to oneself); re |
Questions about 自杀
What does 自杀 mean?
自杀 (zìshā) means "to kill oneself; to commit suicide" and is used as a verb.
How do you write 自杀?
自杀 is made of 2 characters: 自 (6 strokes), 杀 (6 strokes). That is 12 strokes in total.
Is 自杀 an HSK word?
Yes. 自杀 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 自杀 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 自杀 is written 自殺.
How do you say "attempted suicide" in Chinese?
You can say 自杀未遂 (zìshā wèisuì), which means a suicide attempt that did not succeed. In speech, people also say 想自杀 (xiǎng zìshā) for wanting to commit suicide.
Is 自杀 used in a figurative way?
Yes. People sometimes use 自杀 loosely for self-destructive actions, like 这是商业自杀 (zhè shì shāngyè zìshā), "this is business suicide." In games, 自杀 can also mean a character killing itself on purpose.