死有余辜

死有餘辜
sǐyǒuyúgū
idiom #30,844

Meanings

  1. 1 death would still leave the crime unpunished
  2. 2 so evil that even execution is too lenient

Examples

Zhè ge shārénfàn móucái hàimìng, zhēnshì sǐyǒuyúgū.
This murderer killed for money — even death would not be punishment enough.
Tā fàn xià de zuìxíng sǐyǒuyúgū.
The crimes he committed deserve more than the death penalty.

Tips

history
From 《·》: (Lu Wenshu, Western Han dynasty) submitted a memorial decrying judicial torture, arguing that confessions extracted under torture led to convictions where prosecutors made the crime so heavy that 'even if Gao Yao (, the legendary judge) heard the case, he would still feel death was insufficient punishment' — 以为死有余辜. Today the phrase is reserved for the most heinous crimes.
usage
Always pejorative and very strong — used for murderers, traitors, mass killers. Don't apply to ordinary wrongdoing.

Stroke Order

yǒu