说谎 (shuō huǎng) — to lie, to tell a lie | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

说谎 is the everyday spoken verb 'to lie / tell a lie.' Use 撒谎 in exactly the same way — it is a casual variant with no meaning difference, so pick whichever sounds more natural.

verb

to lieto tell a lie

Examples

。
Tā cóng lái méi duì wǒ shuō guò huǎng.
He has never lied to me.
？
Nǐ wèi shén me yào shuō huǎng?
Why do you want to lie?
，。
Tā shuō le yí gè huǎng, jié guǒ dà jiā dōu xiāng xìn le.
She told a lie, and everyone believed it.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

说 speak and 谎 lie combine as speaking untruths.

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 說; 说 is its simplified writing.

言兌說

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

兌

兌duì說shuō

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 說 pairs 言 (meaning) with 兌 (sound); the simplified 说 is not the form described here.

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 謊; 谎 is its simplified writing.

言荒謊

Meaning part形符xíngfú

言言yánspeech

Sound part声符shēngfú

荒

荒huāng謊huǎng

Same sound today

The traditional form 謊 pairs 言 (speech) with 荒, which shows how it was pronounced; the simplified 谎 is a later shorthand.

Appears in

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