slay
- v. 杀害, 残杀
- Definition
- v. to kill a person or animal in a violent way
- Example
- In the story, the brave knight must slay a fierce dragon.
- 在故事里，勇敢的骑士必须屠杀一条凶猛的恶龙。
Synonyms & Differences 近义词辨析
Compared meaning: to deliberately kill someone (verb).
比较义项：故意杀死某人（动词）。
- murder
The neutral legal or journalistic term for unlawfully and deliberately killing a person; used for real-world crimes, sounds formal and matter-of-fact, and is odd for animals or fictional monsters.
murder 是中性的法律或新闻用语，指非法蓄意杀害人类，用于现实世界的犯罪案件，语气正式平实，用于动物或虚构怪物会显得不自然。
He was arrested for murdering his neighbor over a property dispute.
他因一场地产纠纷而杀害邻居被捕。
- slay 本词
A literary or dramatic word for violently killing a person, animal, or monster, common in stories and legends; it sounds heroic or old-fashioned rather than like ordinary legal language.
slay 是文学化或戏剧性的用词，指以暴力方式杀死人、动物或怪物，常见于故事和传说中，听起来英勇或古雅，而不像日常的法律用语。
According to legend, the young hero had to slay a monstrous serpent to save the village.
传说中，这位年轻的英雄必须杀死一条巨蟒才能拯救村庄。
Both words mean to deliberately kill someone. Murder is the neutral legal term for unlawfully killing a person; it sounds formal. Slay is literary, dramatic, for violently killing a person, animal, or monster; it sounds heroic. Slay's slang and murder's informal senses are not compared.
这两个词都表示“蓄意杀死”，但语域和使用场合不同：murder 是法律 / 新闻用语，指非法预谋杀害人类，语气正式、平实；slay 更具文学 / 戏剧色彩，常见于故事、传说中以暴力方式杀死人或动物（甚至怪兽），语气夸张、富有英雄气概。这里不比较 slay 的网络俚语义（表现出色，令人惊艳），也不比较 murder 的非正式义（在比赛中大胜某人）。