刹

剎
chà
#2,244 most
frequent character
Buddhist monastery, temple or shrine (abbr. for 剎多羅|刹多罗[cha4duo1luo2], Sanskrit "ksetra")

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

刹 shā joins 杀 shā, 'to kill,' which also matches the sound, with 刂, a knife. The knife fits the first sense, 'to kill, slaughter,' which grew to 'to stop' and 'to brake.' Read chà, it means 'instant, split second.'

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Same Characters, Different Readings

刹shā
to brake

Homophones

HSK 3
差chà
differ from, short of, to lack
HSK 6
岔chà
fork in road, bifurcation

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