(zhà) — to swindle, to cheat, to defraud; to feign, to pretend, to bluff

Definition

A formal/literary verb meaning 'to swindle, feign, or trick someone into revealing something' (see 诈出 in example 3). Less common in speech than 骗.

verb
to swindleto cheatto defraudto feignto pretendto bluff

Examples

  • Nà ge piàn zi zhà le tā yí dà bǐ qián.
    That swindler cheated him out of a large sum of money.
  • Tā zhà chēng zì jǐ shì jì zhě, xiǎng hùn jìn huì chǎng.
    He falsely claimed to be a journalist, trying to sneak into the venue.
  • Jǐ jù huà nǐ jiù bǎ tā xīn lǐ de xiǎng fǎ zhà chū lái le.
    With just a few sentences you managed to draw out his true thoughts.

Origin

Sound + meaning
六书liùshū
形声xíngshēng

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
Sound part声符shēngfú
zhàzhà
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.

Appears in

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