全滅

ぜんめつ · zenmetsu · JLPT N1 · noun

annihilation

全 (all, whole) + 滅 (destroy, extinguish): everything destroyed, nothing left

全 means all or whole. 滅 means destroy or extinguish, as in 消滅. Together they mean every member is destroyed, with no survivors.

全 — enter 入 on top + jade 玉
Originally written as 入 (enter) over 玉 (jade), depicting a complete, unflawed piece of jade kept in storage. From this image of a perfect jade came the meanings 'whole,' 'complete,' and 'entire.' The top component is sometimes written as 人.

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