Has both an active sense ("to commit genocide," usually
灭种 + a victim group) and a passive/intransitive sense ("to go extinct"). The full term
种族灭绝 (zhǒngzú mièjué, "genocide") is the modern legal/journalistic standard;
灭种 is shorter and more historically loaded — it appears heavily in late-Qing/Republican-era nationalist writing about
亡国灭种 ("national subjugation and racial extinction").
