伪 (wěi) — (bound form) false, fake, pseudo-; (bound form) puppet (as in puppet regime)
Definition
伪 (wěi) is a bound morpheme meaning 'false, fake, pseudo-' that only combines with other morphemes (e.g. 伪政权, 伪造, 伪劣). In the 'puppet' sense it pairs with 政权 to mean a regime installed and controlled by a foreign power.
bound form
falsefakepseudo-puppet (as in puppet regime)
Examples
- 。Tā yīn wèi wěi zào wén jiàn bèi bǔ le.He was arrested for forging documents.
- 。Shì chǎng shàng yǒu hěn duō wěi liè shāng pǐn.There are many fake and inferior goods on the market.
- 伪。Nà ge wěi zhèng quán méi yǒu dé dào guó jì chéng rèn.That puppet regime did not receive international recognition.
Origin
Sound + meaning六书liùshū
形声xíngshēngMost 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 偽; 伪 is its simplified writing.
Sound part声符shēngfú
為
為wéi偽wěi
Same sound today
The modern 伪 comes from the traditional form 偽, where 亻 (man) marks the idea as about a person and 為 gives the sound and means “to make”; together they originally meant “artificial”.
Appears in
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