About
The character 诿, meaning to shift blame or evade responsibility, originates from its traditional form 諉, which is composed of the speech radical 言 and the component 委, the latter contributing phonetic value and semantic notions of entrusting or deferring. Etymologically, this structure implies the use of speech to transfer accountability or fault to another party. Over time, the character's primary sense has consistently involved shirking duties, though in earlier literary contexts it occasionally conveyed related ideas of procrastination or avoidance. The simplified form 诿 maintains the phonetic element 委 while replacing the traditional radical 言 with its simplified counterpart 讠.
Etymology Hide
