How to Write 杀 (shā) — Meaning “to kill; to murder”

Imagine a wooden stick (木) hitting an 'X' mark (like the lower part of 杀) to represent "kill". The 'X' can remind you of crossing something out or a target being eliminated, so you remember that 杀 means "to kill" or "to destroy."

The top part 木 is written first with its vertical stroke crossing the horizontal, then the left and right strokes. The bottom part has a left-falling stroke (撇) followed by a dot and a right-falling stroke (捺) — common mistakes include making the bottom too wide or forgetting the dot. Keep the lower part compact and centered under the wood radical.

杀 has a bottom component (like a modified 攵) under the 木, while 木 is just the tree radical alone. 未 (wèi, 'not yet') looks similar but has a horizontal stroke that is longer and the top stroke is slightly different: 未 has two horizontal strokes, the top one shorter, whereas 杀 has only one horizontal stroke in 木 and then a different lower part.

Today 杀 appears in words like 杀害 (murder) and 杀虫剂 (insecticide), but also in the common expression 杀价 (to bargain), where it means to "kill" the price. While the original meaning is violent, in daily use it often appears in neutral or commercial contexts like bargaining, showing how Chinese characters can extend from literal to figurative meanings.

Common words containing 杀 include: 杀害 (shā hài) — murder; 杀价 (shā jià) — to bargain; to beat down the price; 杀虫剂 (shā chóng jì) — insecticide; pesticide.