殺人
Meaning in Englishmurder
Animated kanji stroke order
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Word context
What it means
What does 殺人 (satsujin) mean? It means murder: the deliberate killing of one person by another, used to describe an act considered a criminal offense under Japanese law and a moral/social wrongdoing; the term identifies the deed itself rather than legal procedures or verdicts.
Main meanings
- 1. Legal category in criminal law distinguishing intentional killing from accidental death or negligence.
- 2. A headline or news label used to describe events involving a victim killed by another person.
- 3. Appears in compound terms to indicate related crimes or statuses, such as attempted or suspected cases.
How to use it
Commonly used in formal contexts such as police reports, news articles, legal documents and courtroom language to label acts of intentional killing; in everyday speech it appears mainly when discussing crimes, historical incidents, fiction, or legal consequences and is generally not used casually among friends.
Variants and close terms
- 殺害 (satsugai) — killing, often used interchangeably but can emphasize the act rather than the legal label.
- 殺人事件 (satsujin jiken) — murder case, used in news and legal contexts.
- 殺人未遂 (satsujin misui) — attempted murder, related legal term.
- 故意による致死 (ko'i ni yoru chishi) — death by intent, a legal phrasing sometimes contrasted with manslaughter.
Composition
- 殺 (satsu): kill, slaughter, to take life; originally depicts violent action.
- 人 (jin / hito): person, human being.
- Together, the two kanji form a compound that literally reads as "kill + person," yielding the meaning "killing a person" or "murder."
Origin
The concept of killing another person has existed throughout Japanese history, but the modern legal framing of 殺人 arose with the Meiji-era codification of criminal law in the late 19th century, which adapted Western legal categories to define and criminalize intentional homicide; earlier periods treated killings under different social and customary systems.
Word class
noun (名詞), compound noun (複合名詞)