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扮作 (bàn zuō) — to dress up as; to disguise oneself as; to pretend to be

Definition

verb
to dress up asto disguise oneself asto pretend to be

Examples

  • 扮作。
    Tā bàn zuō yí gè gǔ dài jiāng jūn cān jiā yǎn chū.
    He dressed up as an ancient general for the performance.
  • 扮作。
    Xiǎo tōu bàn zuō bǎo ān hùn jìn le dà lóu.
    The thief disguised himself as a security guard and sneaked into the building.
  • 扮作。
    Tā bàn zuō yí gè lǎo nǎi nai qù cān jiā huà zhuāng wǔ huì.
    She dressed up as an old lady to attend the masquerade ball.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

扮bàndress up
作zuòbecome

扮 covers dressing up or disguising, while 作 gives the sense of becoming the pretended role.

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
扌Written in full as手shǒu
Sound part声符shēngfú
分
分fēn扮bàn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

扮 pairs 扌 (hand, written in full as 手) with 分, which gives its sound.

Open 扮 →

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
亻Written in full as人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
乍
乍zhà作zuò
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left side 亻 comes from 人, meaning 'person', and the right side 乍 gives the sound.

Open 作 →
Appears in
Clothing

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