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讹诈 (é zhà) — to extort (under false pretenses); to blackmail; to bluff

Definition

讹诈 (ézhà) means extorting or blackmailing someone by using false claims, threats, or fabricated evidence. Among siblings, 敲诈 focuses on squeezing money out by threat, while 诈骗 / 欺诈 are broader fraud/swindle terms — 欺诈 is the formal, legal register.

verb
to extort (under false pretenses)to blackmailto bluff

Examples

  • 讹诈。
    Tā bèi huài rén é zhà le yí dà bǐ qián.
    He was blackmailed for a large sum of money by bad guys.
  • 讹诈。
    Hé é zhà shì yì zhǒng wēi xiǎn de wēi xié shǒu duàn.
    Nuclear blackmail is a dangerous form of threat.
  • 讹诈，。
    Tā yòng jiǎ wén jiàn é zhà duì fāng, dàn hěn kuài bèi shí pò le.
    She tried to blackmail the other party with fake documents, but was quickly seen through.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

讹éextort
诈zhàcheat

讹 and 诈 both involve deceit or extortion, so together they mean to blackmail or defraud.

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 訛; 讹 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánspeech
Sound part声符shēngfú
化
化huà訛é
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 訛 pairs 言, speech, with 化 as the sound part; the simplified 讹 is a later shorthand.

Open 讹 →

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 詐; 诈 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yán
Sound part声符shēngfú
乍
乍zhà詐zhà
Same sound today

The traditional form 詐 shows 言 (speech) plus 乍 as a sound part; the simplified 诈 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the historical ones.

Open 诈 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Crime & Police

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.