About
Historically, 夸 was a separate character meaning "large" or "to boast", composed of 大 (dà, big) over 亏 (kuī, lacking or breath), suggesting someone puffing up with big words. The traditional character 誇 combines the speech radical 言 (yán) as a semantic indicator of talking with 夸 as the phonetic, forming a phono-semantic compound. Its core meanings are to exaggerate, praise, or brag. In simplified Chinese, the older 夸 has replaced 誇 entirely, absorbing all its speech-related functions while retaining the original sense of boastful display.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
妈妈夸奖了我。
老师夸他作业写得好。
大家都夸赞这个新设计。
她谦虚地说不值得夸。
他总是夸大自己的成就。
别把事情夸大了，要实事求是。
这份报告的内容有点夸张。
过分夸张的广告容易引起消费者的反感。
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