The word 篡改 (cuàngǎi), meaning "to tamper with" or "to falsify," is a compound verb formed through the combination of two semantically related characters: 篡, which originally means "to usurp" or "to seize power illegitimately," implies an act of malicious and unauthorized substitution, while 改 means "to alter" or "to change." When combined, the character 篡 intensifies the nature of the alteration denoted by 改, specifying it as a dishonest, secretive, or illegitimate modification made with deceptive intent, thus forming a word whose meaning is more specific and sinister than the simple sum of its parts.