伪劣 (wěi liè) — (attributive) fake and inferior, counterfeit and substandard

Definition

伪劣 is a formal/written attributive adjective, almost always paired with nouns like 商品 or 产品 to mean 'fake and substandard.' It marks illegal counterfeit goods, not just low quality.

adjective
(attributive) fake and inferiorcounterfeit and substandard

Examples

  • 伪劣。
    Zhèng fǔ yán lì dǎ jī wěi liè shāng pǐn.
    The government cracks down hard on counterfeit and inferior goods.
  • 伪劣。
    Zhè xiē wěi liè chǎn pǐn wēi hài xiāo fèi zhě de jiàn kāng.
    These fake and substandard products endanger consumers' health.
  • 伪劣，。
    Mǎi dào wěi liè yào pǐn hòu, tā lì kè tóu sù le.
    After buying counterfeit and inferior medicine, he immediately filed a complaint.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéSide by side

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

伪wěifake
劣lièinferior

伪劣 joins 伪 (fake) and 劣 (inferior) to describe goods that are both counterfeit and substandard.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 偽; 伪 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rénman
Sound part声符shēngfú
為
為wéi偽wěi
Same sound today

The modern 伪 comes from the traditional form 偽, where 亻 (man) marks the idea as about a person and 為 gives the sound and means “to make”; together they originally meant “artificial”.

Open 伪 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

劣 combines 少 (little/less) with 力 (strength), showing less strength, hence bad or inferior.

Open 劣 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.