诈死 (zhà sǐ) — to play dead; to feign death | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Verb meaning 'to play dead / feign death' — a deliberate act of deception, usually to trick pursuers or avoid danger. Note the split: 诈死倒下, with 死 reduplicated or repeated as 死死 in compound forms.

verb

to play deadto feign death

Examples

诈死，。
Nà zhī hú li zài zhà sǐ, xiǎng piàn guò liè rén.
That fox is playing dead, trying to fool the hunter.
诈死。
Shì bīng men zhà sǐ dǎo zài zhàn chǎng shàng.
The soldiers feigned death on the battlefield.
诈死。
Tā zhà sǐ duǒ guò le dí rén de sōu chá.
He played dead to avoid the enemy's search.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

诈 as feigning and 死 as death combine to mean pretending to be dead.

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 詐; 诈 is its simplified writing.

言乍詐

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

乍

乍zhà詐zhà

Same sound today

The traditional form 詐 shows 言 (speech) plus 乍 as a sound part; the simplified 诈 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the historical ones.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

尸

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

死 is built from 歹 and 尸: 歹 is the part tied to the meaning, and 尸 gives the sound.

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