仿制
fǎng zhì · HSK 7
to copy
📋 fǎng zhì = imitate + make — a copy is made by imitating the original
仿 (fǎng) means to imitate or mimic, 制 (zhì) means to make or manufacture. Together: to produce something by copying a model — counterfeiting or replicating.
仿 — person radical 亻 + 方 fāng
A semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 亻 (person) gives the meaning, since imitating or modeling is something people do, while 方 supplies the sound 'fāng/fǎng'. The character has long meant 'to imitate, resemble, or copy after a model'.
制 — knife 刂 + 未 (tree branches)
Originally depicted a knife 刂 cutting branches from a tree, showing the act of trimming or shaping wood. From this concrete sense of cutting to size came the meanings 'to make,' 'to manufacture,' and by extension 'to control' or 'regulate' — shaping things to a desired form.