詐 means “fraud, swindle”

さ · sa

Also: lie, falsehood, deceive, pretend

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

いつわる

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

サ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 12 strokes

The story

Words (言) beside 乍, the right half of 作る, to make: words that are made up. 詐 is fraud. 詐欺 is a scam, and police posters across Japan warn of 特殊詐欺, phone scams such as a fake grandson calling to beg for money.

Used in 詐欺 (sagi, fraud/scam), 詐欺師 (sagishi, con artist), and 詐称 (sashou, misrepresentation)

More from Thieves & Swindlers

• 欺 deceive
• 殴 hit
• 窃 steal
• 賊 bandit
• 賂 bribe
• 拉 abduct
• 偽 fake
• 唆 suggest
• 賄 bribe
• 謀 plot
• 虐 cruelty
• 拐 kidnap

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Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.