外国语中心

中华汉字文化“伪 wěi”的汉语解释

“伪 wěi” is a simplified word of 偽 or 僞. It means fake, counterfeit, bogus, forged, disguise…
It most cases, it’s application is same as “假 jiǎ” ，the antonym of “真 zhēn” (real).
“伪” is usually used jointly with one or more other Chinese words. Here are some examples:

(1) 虚伪 xūwěi ：hypocritical
你这人太虚伪了(nǐ zhè rén tài xū wěi le）！
You’re such a hypocritical person!
(2) 伪君子 wěijūnzi ：hypocrite 
他是个伪君子，你可别上他的当 (tā shì gè wěijūnzi ，nǐ kě bié shàng tā de dāng)！
He is a hypocrite, always remind yourself not to walk into his trap.
(3) 伪造 wěizào ：forge, falsify
他用伪造的证件行骗 (tā yòng wěizào de zhèngjiàn xíng piàn)
He used forged documents to swindle people. 
(4) 伪钞 wěichāo ：counterfeit banknotes
市面上已发现了不少伪钞 (shì miàn shàng yǐ fā xiàn le bù shǎo wěi chāo)。
There are quite a few counterfeit banknotes discovered in the market.
(5) 伪装 wěizhuāng ：disguise
注意！他们是伪装的警员 (zhù yì ! tāmen shì wěi zhuāng de jǐng yuán) 。
Watch out! They are police in disguise.

Caution! Never call a hypocritical person “伪人wěi rén”; call him “伪君子wěijūnzi”. 
We only call a great person “伟人wěi rén”, so calling a hypocritical person “wěi rén” may be misunderstood that you regard him as a great person! Unfortunately they sound exactly the same.