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装蒜 (zhuāng suàn) — to pretend not to know, to play dumb, to feign ignorance

Definition

A colloquial, slightly humorous expression meaning 'to play dumb / pretend you don't know' — often used to call someone out, as in 别装蒜了 ('stop playing dumb').

verb
to pretend not to knowto play dumbto feign ignorance

Examples

  • 装蒜，。
    Bié zhuāng suàn le, nǐ míng míng zhī dào shì zěn me huí shì.
    Stop playing dumb — you clearly know what's going on.
  • ？。
    Nǐ zhuāng shén me suàn? zhè jiàn shì jiù shì nǐ gān de.
    What are you pretending? You're the one who did this.
  • ，。
    Tā zhuāng le bàn tiān suàn, zuì hòu hái shì chéng rèn le.
    He played dumb for a while, but finally admitted it.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

装zhuāngpretend
蒜suàngarlic

装 'pretend' and 蒜 'garlic' together form the sense of playing dumb.

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 裝; 装 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
衣衣yīclothes
Sound part声符shēngfú
壯
壯zhuàng裝zhuāng
Same sound today

The traditional form 裝 pairs 衣 (clothes) with 壯 as a sound part; this story is about 裝, not the simplified 装.

Open 装 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 蒜 →
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