About
The character 诳 is a phono-semantic compound. Its left side, the speech radical 讠, indicates the meaning relates to verbal communication. The right side, 狂 ("crazy", "wild"), provides the pronunciation "kuáng". The traditional form 誑 pairs the full speech radical 言 with the same phonetic component. Historically, 诳 means to deceive, lie, or mislead with falsehoods. The combination of the speech radical and the "wild" phonetic subtly suggests speech that is erratic or untrue. It appears in formal compounds like "欺诳" (qīkuáng), meaning intentional deception.
Etymology Hide
