受骗
shòupiàn · HSK 7
be cheated
🎣 受 receive + 骗 deceive = receive a deception, i.e. get cheated
受 carries the sense of suffering or undergoing something, and 骗 means to swindle. Put together, you undergo a swindle: you are taken in. The fishing hook fits the idea of being baited and reeled in.
受 — hand 爫 (top) + 冖 + hand 又 (bottom)
Originally a pictograph showing two hands passing an object (the middle 冖 represented a boat or tray) between them. It depicted the act of giving and receiving, so the character meant both 'to give' and 'to receive.' Later 授 was created with the hand radical 扌 to mean 'give,' leaving 受 to mean 'receive' or 'accept.'
骗 — horse radical 馬 + flat 扁 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The horse radical 馬 hints at the original sense of mounting a horse sideways or leaping onto it deceptively, while 扁 supplies the sound. Over time the meaning shifted from this sneaky riding motion to the broader sense of 'cheat' or 'deceive'.