误判 (wù pàn) — (legal) erroneous judgment, miscarriage of just…

Definition

A 'wrong judgment' in a ruling, decision, or call — can be a legal miscarriage of justice, but also a referee's bad call or a business misjudgment.

noun

(legal) erroneous judgmentmiscarriage of justicegeneral misjudgmentwrong decision

误判。
Zhè ge àn jiàn de wù pàn dǎo zhì le yuān yù.
The erroneous judgment in this case led to a wrongful imprisonment.
误判。
Tā de wù pàn ràng gōng sī sǔn shī le dà bù fen shōu rù.
His misjudgment caused the company to lose most of its revenue.
误判。
Cái pàn de wù pàn yǐng xiǎng le bǐ sài jié guǒ.
The referee's wrong call affected the outcome of the match.

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.

误wùmistakenly

误 means mistakenly and 判 means judge, so 误判 is judging wrongly.

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 誤; 误 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

言言yánspeech

Sound part声符shēngfú

吳

吳wú誤wù

Same sound today

The traditional form 誤 uses 言 (speech) for meaning and 吳 for sound, giving the idea of speaking an error; the simplified 误 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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

刀刀dāoknife

Sound part声符shēngfú

半

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

判 combines 刀, a knife, with 半, which provides the sound.

Appears in