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奸夫 (jiān fū) — male adulterer

Definition

Literary/legal term for the man in an extramarital affair, almost always paired with 淫妇 (the woman). It reads as formal and moralistic — everyday speech would just say 情夫 or describe the situation directly.

noun
male adulterer
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 奸夫。
    Nà ge jiān fū bèi lín jū fā xiàn le.
    That male adulterer was discovered by the neighbors.
  • 奸夫。
    Xiǎo shuō lǐ de jiān fū zuì hòu dé dào le chéng fá.
    The male adulterer in the novel was punished in the end.
  • ，奸夫。
    Zài gǔ dài, jiān fū huì shòu dào yán lì de chǔ fá.
    In ancient times, a male adulterer would receive severe punishment.

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.

奸jiānillicit
夫fūman

奸 conveys illicit or adulterous behavior, and 夫 denotes a man, together meaning a male adulterer.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
女女nǚ
Sound part声符shēngfú
干
干gān奸jiān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

奸 is written with 女 (woman) on the left and 干 on the right; the evidence says 干 gives the sound and 女 marks the meaning.

Open 奸 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

夫 originally drew a man. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write a pronoun, so the picture and the pronoun meaning are unrelated.

Open 夫 →
Appears in
Romance & MarriageSocial Roles & Status

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