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(zuì xíng) - crime, criminal act in Mandarin

zuìxíng

Traditional: 罪行

Line drawing of 罪行
Coloured illustration of 罪行
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Translation

crime, criminal act

Word origin

From 罪 (zuì, crime, guilt) and 行 (xíng, an act, conduct); together, literally a criminal act.

Origin
compound
Root
罪 (zuì, crime) + 行 (xíng, act, conduct)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 罪

Stroke order for 行

Examples

The police are investigating this crime.

He admitted to his crime.

xiáng

The court examined his crime in detail.

This kind of crime will be severely punished.

The newspaper reported the details of this crime.

罪行 (zuìxíng) is a crime or criminal act, from 罪 (zuì, crime, guilt) and 行 (xíng, an act, conduct). It names the act itself rather than the person who did it.

For the person, Chinese uses 罪犯 (zuìfàn), a criminal, or the verb 犯罪 (fànzuì), to commit a crime. So a news report will typically say someone 犯罪 (fànzuì) and then describe their 罪行 (zuìxíng), keeping the act and the actor grammatically separate in a way English does not always bother to.

It carries more formal weight than the everyday word for wrongdoing: 罪行 (zuìxíng) belongs in courtrooms, news reports and legal documents, not in a casual complaint about a friend's bad behaviour.

Where this fits

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Mandarin · Free printables

罪行: worksheet, infographic and listicle

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This word is part of lesson 68.