Chinese symbol for “slay”
杀
shā
Traditional: 殺
to kill; to slay; to murder; to attack; to weaken; to reduce; (dialect) to smart; (used after a verb) extremely
The closest CC-CEDICT match for slay is 杀 (shā), defined as: to kill; to slay; to murder; to attack; to weaken; to reduce; (dialect) to smart; (used after a verb) extremely.
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
Traditional forms
Related words
Other words that share a character with 杀.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 自杀 (自殺) | zì shā | to kill oneself; to commit suicide |
| 杀人 (殺人) | shā rén | to kill a person; to commit murder |
| 谋杀 (謀殺) | móu shā | to murder; to assassinate |
| 屠杀 (屠殺) | tú shā | to massacre; to slaughter |
| 杀害 (殺害) | shā hài | to murder |
| 杀死 (殺死) | shā sǐ | to kill |
See also: Japanese symbol for “slay”.
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.