妖言 (yāo yán) — heresy; false and harmful speech; fallacy; misleading doctrine

Definition

妖言 (yāo yán) means 'heresy' or 'fallacy' — speech framed as dangerous and deceptive, used mostly in historical or political writing. Today it appears almost entirely in the set phrase 妖言惑众 ('to spread lies to mislead the public').

noun
heresyfalse and harmful speechfallacymisleading doctrine

Examples

  • 妖言。
    Gǔ dài tǒng zhì zhě cháng bǎ fǎn duì tā men de yán lùn chēng wéi yāo yán.
    Ancient rulers often labeled opposing speech as heresy.
  • 妖言，。
    Tā sàn bù yāo yán, mí huò le bù shǎo rén.
    He spread fallacies and deluded quite a few people.
  • 妖言。
    Lì shǐ shàng hěn duō yāo yán dōu bèi yòng lái shān dòng mín zhòng.
    In history, many heresies were used to incite the masses.

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.

妖yāostrange; evil
言yánspeech

妖 (strange or evil) with 言 (speech) gives false, harmful words.

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
夭
夭yāo妖yāo
Same sound today

妖 is built from 女 (woman) and 夭; the 女 part relates to the meaning, while 夭 gives the sound.

Open 妖 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

The early form of 言 shows an opening and a mark indicating a location; the location is not described as the source of speech.

Open 言 →

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