奸人 (jiān rén) — a treacherous person, a crafty villain

Definition

A literary/archaic word for a treacherous, scheming villain — someone who pretends loyalty while plotting harm. Found mostly in historical writing and storytelling, not daily speech.

noun
a treacherous persona crafty villain
Measure word · 个
Easily confused

Examples

  • 奸人。
    Lì shǐ shàng xǔ duō jiān rén zuì zhōng dōu méi yǒu hǎo xià chǎng.
    Many treacherous figures in history ended up badly.
  • 奸人，。
    Zhè bù xì lǐ de jiān rén yǐn cáng dé hěn shēn, zhí dào zuì hòu cái bèi fā xiàn.
    The villain in this play was hidden well and wasn't exposed until the very end.
  • ，奸人。
    Tā biǎo miàn zhōng hòu, shí jì shang shì gè jiān rén.
    He seems honest and loyal on the surface, but is actually a crafty villain.

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.

奸jiāntreacherous
人rénperson

奸 means treacherous, and 人 means person.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
女女nǚ
Sound part声符shēngfú
干
干gān奸jiān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

奸 is written with 女 (woman) on the left and 干 on the right; the evidence says 干 gives the sound and 女 marks the meaning.

Open 奸 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →

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