Taxonomy of meanings for 屠:　　

  • 屠 chú (OC: ɡ-la MC: ɖiɔ) 直魚切 平 廣韻：【匈奴傳有休屠王又音徒 】
  • 屠 tú (OC: ɡ-laa MC: duo) 同都切 平 廣韻：【殺也裂也刳也尸子曰屠者割肉知牛之長少史記樊噲少屠狗亦姓左傳晉有屠岸賈又音除 】
    • BUTCHER
      • n+Nprbutcher Npr
      • nagentbutcher
      • nabactbutchery; the professional activity of a butcher
      • viactbe a butcher
      • vtoN學屠龍"study how to slaughter dragons": slaughter (for consumption) 
    • KILL
      • vtoNkill (a person) cruelly; slaughter
    • MURDER
      • nabactthe suffering of cruel murder
      • vtoN{PLACE}massacre everyone at the place Npl
      • vtoNmassacre, kill cruelly;
    • SPLIT
      • ILLNESS
        • PLACE NAMES
          • SURNAMES

            Additional information about 屠

            說文解字: 【屠】，刳也。 〔小徐本無「也」。〕 从尸、者聲。 【同都切】

              Criteria
            • BUTCHER

              1. The general word is tú 屠, and this word has no competitors, although compounds show that butchers could specialise in beef, lamb and dog. The default meat sold was pork.

            • KILL

              1. The overwhelmingly dominant term referring to any form of taking the life of anything is shā 殺.

              2. Some words specify the range of objects murdered: Thus shì 弒 refers to the killing of a reigning ruler, zhū 誅 and yí 夷 refer to the killing of a convicted criminal; zǎi 宰 and tú3 屠 refer primarily to the slaughtering of animals for the purpose of food production.

              3. Some words specify the number of objects killed: yí 夷, zú 族, jiān 殲 tú 屠 (when applied to humans) refer to the killing of groups of people. See PUNISHMENT. The other words refer normally to the killing of one person or a specified set of several persons.

              4. Some words specify modes of killing: cì 刺 is to murder by stabbing with a pointed object, typically a dagger; liè 裂 and jiě 解 refer to dismembering by a wide variety of methods; zhèn 鴆 refers to poisoning; jǐng 剄 refers to cutting the throat; xī 腊 refers to killing followed by making a person into minced meat; rèn 刃 is to kill with a sword; jiǎo 絞 and yì 縊 refer to strangulation, è4 mèi 扼昧 and refer to strangulation; è 餓 can refer to starving someone to death. For a more detailed account of the varieties of death penalties in ancient China see PUNISHMENT.