掺假 (chān jiǎ) — to adulterate; to mix in adulterants | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

掺假 means to adulterate — to mix fake or inferior material into a product (food, medicine, etc.) to pass it off as genuine. Note 假 is an adjective here ('fake'), not the noun meaning 'vacation'.

verb

to adulterateto mix in adulterants

Examples

掺假。
Zhè jiā gōng sī bèi chá chū zài shí pǐn zhōng chān jiǎ.
This company was found to have adulterated its food products.
，。
Zhè xiē yào cái chān le jiǎ, yào xiào dà dǎ zhé kòu.
These medicinal herbs have been adulterated, greatly reducing their effectiveness.
。
Tā yīn wèi chān guò liǎng cì jiǎ bèi diào xiāo le yíng yè zhí zhào.
He had his business license revoked for having adulterated products twice.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

掺 means mixing, and 假 means fake material; together they mean adulterating by adding false ingredients.

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 摻; 掺 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

參

參cān摻

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 摻 shows 手 (hand) and uses 參 to give the sound; the simplified 掺 is a later shorthand.

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

亻叚假

Meaning part形符xíngfú

亻Written in full as人rénperson

Sound part声符shēngfú

叚

叚jiǎ假jiǎ

Same sound today

假 pairs 亻 (person) with 叚, which gives the sound jiǎ.

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