伪证罪 (wěi zhèng zuì) — perjury

Definition

noun
perjury
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 伪证罪。
    Tā bèi zhǐ kòng fàn yǒu wěi zhèng zuì.
    He was accused of perjury.
  • 伪证罪。
    wěi zhèng zuì Shì yì zhǒng yán zhòng de fàn zuì xíng wéi.
    Perjury is a serious crime.
  • 伪证罪。
    Zhèng rén zài fǎ tíng shàng shuō huǎng kě néng gòu chéng wěi zhèng zuì.
    If a witness lies in court, it may constitute perjury.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

伪证false testimony
伪wěifalse证zhèngtestimony
偏正Modifier + head
罪zuìcrime

伪 means false, 证 means testimony, and 罪 means crime, so a crime of false testimony.

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 →

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 證; 证 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yán
Sound part声符shēngfú
登
登dēng證zhèng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 證 pairs 言, a words/speech part, with 登 as a sound clue; the simplified 证 is a later shorthand.

Open 证 →

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

罪 puts 罒 (a net, written fully as 网) over 非 (mistake).

Open 罪 →

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