假装
jiǎzhuāng · HSK 7
pretend
🎭 假 fake + 装 dress-up = put on a fake act, pretend
假 means false or fake; 装 means to dress up or put on. Together they mean to feign a false appearance. The 装 part is the same one in 化装 (put on costume), reinforcing the put-on-an-act sense.
假 — person radical 亻 + 叚 (borrow)
假 combines the person radical 亻 with 叚, which originally meant 'to borrow' and provides the sound. The core idea is a person borrowing something, which extended to 'borrowed,' 'not real,' or 'fake.' From there it also developed the meaning 'leave/vacation' (time borrowed away from work).
装 — clothes 衣 + strong 壮 (phonetic)
装 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The bottom 衣 ('clothes') gives the meaning, since the original sense was packing or dressing—putting clothes or goods into a bundle. The top 壮 supplies the sound. Meanings extended from 'to dress/attire' to 'to load, install, pretend'.