自杀

[ala]

自杀 is by far the most common and generic term for suicide.

[amego]

企图自杀 attempted suicide

another story: well there was a man who was so determined to die that he swallowed poison, hung himself from a cliff, set himself on fire and even shot himself...but the shot missed him but hit e rope, thus he went in e water, the fire was doused, he vomitted the poison...and he was rushed to hospital...but the book says he later died of exposure...

[Altair]

台湾一名年仅10岁的小男孩竟已自杀过三次

This doesn't make much sense if one interprets 自杀 simply as 'commit suicide'.

In English, "kill" implies that the action is carried to completion. Looking at 自杀 , I am not sure why it can be interpreted as "attempting to kill oneself." Does this have something to do with 杀 itself, or is there some deeper principle at work here that applies to other words?

I understand that 杀 can also mean "to fight." "To fight" does not necessarily mean that anything is completed or that any deaths occur. Is this why 自杀 can imply only an attempt?

[amego]

台湾一名年仅10岁的小男孩竟已自杀过三次

This doesn't make much sense if one interprets 自杀 simply as 'commit suicide'.

News are often succinct in their headlines, and thus will omit some words. When we see the words 自杀过三次, its obvious that he wasn't successful in doing so. When someone attempted suicide once but didn't succeed, then they will put as 自杀不成功 or 企图自杀.

[Quest]

In English, "kill" implies that the action is carried to completion.

In Chinese, 杀 doesn't, it only describes the action not the result.

[ala]

In Shanghainese, we have to say 杀脱 sathe (脱 is the generic completion particle), to show that someone has been "killed" in the English sense. In Mandarin you would say something like 杀死 if you want to be unambiguous.

杀了 sale = to have attempted/started to kill

杀脱了 sathele = to have killed