假jiǎ

假

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Simplified · Today

简体

Simplified Chinese

Simplified and traditional are identical for 假 (jiǎ, "false" or "holiday"), a character built from the person radical 亻 alongside 叚, which originally depicted something borrowed or not genuine—perhaps a stand-in for a real person. As a component it appears in 假 (fake), 遐 (distant), and 霞 (rosy clouds), always carrying that sense of something not quite real or at a distance.

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Shuowen

假. A person (亻) beside 叚, the latter originally depicting a hand reaching toward something, suggesting the act of taking or borrowing. The character thus meant "to borrow" or "to take temporarily," and because what is borrowed is not one's own, it later extended to mean "false, fake, or pretend"—something existing only as a borrowed form rather than in truth.

Pinyin

jiǎ· HSK 2

假jiǎ

Character evolution

Shuowen

Pinyin