偽

Translingual

Han character

偽 (Kangxi radical 9, 人+9, 11 strokes, cangjie input 人戈大火 (OIKF), four-corner 2222₇, composition ⿰亻為)

Derived characters

• 𠼮

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: not present, would follow page 112, character 7
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 927
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 195, character 4
• Unihan data for U+507D

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 偽
Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Guwen Sishengyun (compiled in Song)	Jizhuan Guwen Yunhai (compiled in Song)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Qin slip script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts	Transcribed ancient scripts	Transcribed ancient scripts
Small seal script s05848 Transcribed ancient scripts L21811 L21812
References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation), which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including: Shuowen Jiezi (small seal), Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions), Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

Simplified from 僞 (爲 → 為). Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ŋʷrals) : semantic 亻 (“man”) + phonetic 為 (OC *ɢʷal, *ɢʷals, “to make”), originally “artificial”.

Etymology

Often thought to be derived from 為 (OC *ɢʷal, “to act as”) (Karlgren, 1956; Baxter and Sagart, 2014).

Alternatively, it may be cognate to 訛 (OC *ŋʷaːl, “erroneous”) (Schuessler, 2007); this may be compared to Tibetan རྔོད (rngod, “to deceive”), though the -d in Tibetan is unexplained (Gong, 1995; Schuessler, 2007; Hill, 2014).

Pronunciation

Definitions

偽

1. false; counterfeit; bogus; fake; pseudo-; artificial

   虛偽／虚伪  ―  xūwěi  ―  hypocritical; hypocrisy

   偽造／伪造  ―  wěizào  ―  to forge; to counterfeit

   偽鈔／伪钞  ―  wěichāo  ―  counterfeit banknote

   偽麻黃鹼／伪麻黄碱  ―  wěimáhuángjiǎn  ―  pseudoephedrine

   • 人之性惡，其善者偽也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     人之性恶，其善者伪也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Xunzi, c. 3^rd century BCE

     Rén zhī xìng è, qí shàn zhě wěi yě.

     Man's nature is bad; his goodness is artificial.

2. falsehood; untruthfulness
3. illegal; illegitimate

   偽政權／伪政权  ―  wěizhèngquán  ―  puppet government

   偽滿洲國／伪满洲国  ―  Wěi-Mǎnzhōuguó  ―  Manchukuo

   偽北京大學／伪北京大学  ―  Wěi Běijīng Dàxué  ―  the Peking University under the control of Chinese puppet state of the Empire of Japan

Compounds

References

• “偽”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

Japanese

Kanji

(common “Jōyō” kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 僞)

1. falsehood, lie
2. fake, forgery

Readings

• Go-on: が (ga)^{←ぐわ (gwa, historical)}; ぎ (gi, Jōyō)^{←ぎ (gi, historical)←ぐゐ (gwi, ancient)}
• Kan-on: が (ga)^{←ぐわ (gwa, historical)}; ぎ (gi, Jōyō)^{←ぎ (gi, historical)←ぐゐ (gwi, ancient)}
• Kan’yō-on: か (ka)^{←くわ (kwa, historical)}
• Kun: いつわり (itsuwari, 偽り)^{←いつはり (itufari, 偽り, historical)}; いつわる (itsuwaru, 偽る, Jōyō)^{←いつはる (itufaru, 偽る, historical)}; にせ (nise, 偽, Jōyō)

Compounds

Etymology 1

/ŋui/ → /ɡwi/ → /ɡi/

From Middle Chinese 僞 (MC ngjweH).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ぎ​ (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

偽(ぎ) • (gi) 

1. a falsehood, lie

   Synonym: 偽り (itsuwari)

2. (logic) a false statement (usually based without facts)

   Antonyms: 真 (shin), 真理 (shinri)

Derived terms

Etymology 2

The 連(れん)用(よう)形(けい) (ren'yōkei, “stem or continuative form”) of the verb 似(に)せる (niseru, “copy, imitate, forge”).

Alternative forms

• 贋

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) にせ (Heiban – )
• IPA^(key):

Adjective

偽(にせ) or 偽(ニセ) • (nise) 

1. a counterfeit, forgery
2. an imitation, replica
3. prefixed to nouns:
   1. counterfeit, forged

      偽(にせ)札(さつ)

      nisesatsu

      counterfeit paper money

   2. fake, false

      偽(にせ)学(がく)生(せい)

      nise-gakusei

      student with a false identity

Usage notes

• This is an example of a word that can be spelled with katakana to convey an informal conversational tone, as ニセ.

Derived terms

References

Korean

Hanja

偽 (eum 위 (wi))

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Vietnamese

Han character

偽: Hán Nôm readings: ngụy/nguỵ

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.