殊死

shūsǐ
adjective #26,707

Meanings

  1. 1 life-and-death
  2. 2 desperate (struggle)
  3. 3 to the death
  4. 4 capital punishment (historical)

Examples

Shuāngfāng zhǎnkāi le shūsǐ bódòu.
The two sides engaged in a desperate, life-or-death struggle.
Tāmen jìnxíng le shūsǐ dǐkàng, dàn zuìzhōng shībài le.
They put up a desperate resistance but ultimately failed.

Tips

usage
殊死 is a formal/literary term usually modifying words like 搏斗 (struggle), 抵抗 (resistance), or 战斗 (battle) to mean the fight is desperate and life-or-death. Historically, 殊死 also referred to beheading as a form of capital punishment.
memory
means 'special/different' and means 'death' — a 'special death' situation, i.e., a do-or-die moment.

Stroke Order

shū