tử hình

Definition

1. Noun:

   • Death penalty; capital punishment: The legally authorized punishment of execution for a crime.
   • Death sentence: The specific judicial decree condemning a person to death.

2. Verb (less common):

   • To sentence to death; to execute: The act of imposing or carrying out the death penalty.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Tử hình là một hình phạt gây nhiều tranh cãi. (The death penalty is a highly controversial punishment.)
  • Tòa án đã tuyên án tử hình cho kẻ phạm tội. (The court handed down a death sentence to the criminal.)
• Verb:
  • Kẻ phản bội đã bị tử hình vào sáng sớm. (The traitor was executed at dawn.)

Advanced Usage

• "Án tử hình": This is a more formal and precise noun phrase meaning "death sentence" or "capital sentence."
  • Bị cáo phải đối mặt với án tử hình. (The defendant faces the death sentence.)
• "Thi hành án tử hình": This verb phrase means "to carry out an execution."
  • Bản án đã được thi hành vào tuần trước. (The sentence was carried out last week.)

Variants and Related Words

• Xử tử (v): To execute, to put to death. Often used interchangeably with the verb form of "tử hình."
  • Hắn bị xử tử bằng hình thức tiêm thuốc độc. (He was executed by lethal injection.)
• Tội chết / Tội tử hình (n): Capital crime; a crime punishable by death.
  • Giết người hàng loạt là một tội chết. (Mass murder is a capital crime.)

Synonyms

• Capital punishment (n): The legal penalty of death.
• Death sentence (n): The judicial order to execute someone.
• Execution (n): The act of carrying out a death sentence.

Related Legal Terms

• Ân xá / Giảm án (n): Clemency / Commutation of sentence. The reduction of a death sentence to a lesser punishment, such as life imprisonment.
  • Gia đình nạn nhân cầu xin ân xá cho kẻ bị kết án. (The victim's family pleaded for clemency for the convict.)
• Hình phạt tối cao (n): Ultimate punishment. A formal term for the death penalty.