假 (gēi) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

假

gēi[gei1]Tone 1

used in fake or pretentious behavior

HSK 1

Multiple Readings (多音字):

Guru Deep Dive

English · used in fake or pretentious behavior

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:11

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left radical (亻) narrow and upright, leaving enough breathing room for the right component (假) to maintain overall structural harmony.

1. Meaning

false, fake, artificial

holiday, vacation (when read as jià)pretentious, affected (when read in local slang as gēi)

Adjective / Bound MorphemeColloquial slangBound morpheme#behavior#qualities

Sample Usage

这个人很假掰。
zhè gè rén hěn gēi bāi.
This person is very pretentious and fake.
别装假了。
bié zhuāng gēi le.
Stop putting on a fake act.

2. Sound

/[keɪ̯⁵⁵]/Tone: 55

假

gēigei1

¯(55)

=gēi

Initial Consonant

Type: Unaspirated Velar

Sounds like: g sound as in go

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: No burst of air (sounds like 'c' in Vietnamese 'cá' or 'k' in English 'skate').

Tongue & Mouth Position: Back of the tongue rises to make contact with the soft palate.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -e vowel group

Sounds like: ei rhymes with grey

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ay'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T1 (55)

5 → 5 (55)

1st Tone (High-Flat)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 1 is a high, steady pitch, similar to holding a high musical note without any rise or fall.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing this colloquial slang reading 'gēi' with the standard Mandarin reading 'jiǎ' or 'jià'.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A flat, high horizontal line in the air, matching a steady high-pitched note.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 11 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left radical (亻) narrow and upright, leaving enough breathing room for the right component (假) to maintain overall structural harmony.

4. Components

Radical 亻 · person radical (human, person)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 亻 (indicates human action or human quality)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 叚 (original sound: jiǎ / gēi)

A person (亻) standing next to a borrowed or artificial structure (叚), representing something fake or put-on.

亻 person
叚 borrowed / false phonetic element

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally combined the person radical with a phonetic element meaning 'borrowed' or 'false', evolving from the concept of a borrowed object to something unreal or fake.

Semantic Evolution: Shifted from meaning 'borrowed' to 'fake' or 'untrue', and further developed specialized colloquial slang readings like 'gēi' in regional dialects.

The reading 'gēi' is a regional colloquialism, particularly well-known in Taiwanese Mandarin slang compounds like 假掰 (gēibāi).

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

A PERSON (亻) wearing a BORROWED (叚) mask is acting completely FAKE and pretentious.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

假

jiǎfake, falseStandard Mandarin reading.

暇

xiáleisureReplaces the person radical with the sun radical (日).

瑕

xiáflawReplaces the person radical with the jade radical (王/玉).

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

价(jià)

Has the single-person radical on the left, whereas '价' has the man/person component modified or different right-hand side.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

这个人平时说话做事总是很[___]。

Clue: gēi bāi

Common Learner Pitfall

Assuming 'gēi' is the standard Mandarin reading for all contexts, whereas it is primarily restricted to specific regional slang terms like 假掰.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see the character 假 used in the colloquial slang expression gēibāi, what is its pronunciation and meaning?

Production: How do you write the character used in the slang expression for being fake or pretentious with the pronunciation 'gēi'?

假gēiused in fake or pretentious behavior

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