Chinese symbol for “slaughter”
宰
zǎi
to slaughter; to butcher; to kill (animals etc); (coll.) to fleece; to rip off; to overcharge; (bound form) to govern; to rule; (bound form) (a title for certain government officials in ancient China)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for slaughter is 宰 (zǎi), defined as: to slaughter; to butcher; to kill (animals etc); (coll.) to fleece; to rip off; to overcharge; (bound form) to govern; to rule; (bound form) (a title for certain government officials in ancient China).
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Other Chinese words for “slaughter”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 屠 | tú | to slaughter (animals for food); to massacre |
| 屠宰 | tú zǎi | to slaughter; to butcher |
| 宰杀 (宰殺) | zǎi shā | to slaughter (an animal for meat); to butcher |
| 屠杀 (屠殺) | tú shā | to massacre; to slaughter |
| 屠戮 | tú lù | slaughter; massacre |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 宰.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 主宰 | zhǔ zǎi | to dominate; to rule |
| 宰相 | zǎi xiàng | prime minister (in feudal China) |
| 屠宰 | tú zǎi | to slaughter; to butcher |
| 宰杀 (宰殺) | zǎi shā | to slaughter (an animal for meat); to butcher |
| 屠宰场 (屠宰場) | tú zǎi chǎng | slaughterhouse; abattoir |
| 宰割 | zǎi gē | to slaughter; (fig.) to ride roughshod over |
See also: Japanese symbol for “slaughter”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.