暗杀
àn shā · HSK 7
to assassinate
🗡️ àn shā = dark + kill — a killing done in the dark
暗 means dark or hidden, 杀 means to kill. Together they form assassinate — a hidden killing. The sound àn echoes 'under' as in undercover, reinforcing the secrecy.
暗 — sun 日 + sound 音 (phonetic)
暗 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The 日 (sun) component carries the meaning, suggesting absence of sunlight, while 音 (yīn, sound) provides the phonetic clue for the reading àn. Originally meaning 'dark' or 'dim,' it later extended to figurative senses like 'hidden' or 'secret.'
杀 — 刂 knife radical + 朩 phonetic
杀 (shā) means 'to kill.' The traditional form 殺 shows a hand wielding a weapon (殳) beside a phonetic element. The simplified form keeps a reduced phonetic 朩 over 朩, with the knife radical 刂 originally implied through the weapon component, signaling violent action.