伪钞 (wěi chāo) — counterfeit banknote, fake currency

Definition

noun

counterfeit banknotefake currency

Measure word · 张

Examples

伪钞。
Jǐng fāng zài shì chǎng shàng fā xiàn le dà liàng wěi chāo.
The police discovered a large number of counterfeit banknotes in the market.
伪钞。
Yòng wěi chāo gòu wù shì wéi fǎ xíng wéi.
Using counterfeit banknotes to shop is illegal.
伪钞。
Yín háng yuán gōng shòu guò shí bié wěi chāo de xùn liàn.
Bank employees have been trained to recognize counterfeit banknotes.

Origin

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.

伪wěifake

钞chāobanknote

“伪” (fake) and “钞” (banknote) combine to mean a fake banknote.

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 偽; 伪 is its simplified writing.

亻為偽

Meaning part形符xíngfú

亻Written in full as人rénman

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”.

Open 伪 →

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 鈔; 钞 is its simplified writing.

金少鈔

Meaning part形符xíngfú

金金jīn

Sound part声符shēngfú

少

少shǎo鈔chāo

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

The form 鈔 has 金 as the meaning part and 少 for the sound.

Open 钞 →