纣 (zhòu): King Zhou, the last tyrant rule…

Meanings

1 King Zhou, the last tyrant ruler of the Shang dynasty
2 crupper (a harness strap under a horse's tail)

Characters

纣

zhòu

King Zhou; crupper strap

Examples

纣王残暴，失了天下。

Zhòuwáng cánbào, shī le tiānxià.

King Zhou was cruel and lost the realm.

人们用助纣为虐形容帮坏人作恶。

Rénmen yòng zhùzhòuwéinüè xíngróng bāng huàirén zuòè.

People say 'to help the tyrant Zhou do evil' for aiding a wrongdoer.

Tips

culture

纣 is the posthumous, deliberately insulting name of the last Shang king 纣王, a byword for a cruel despot. The idiom 助纣为虐 means to abet a tyrant in doing evil. The original word sense was a horse-harness strap, which is why the name was chosen as a slur.