欺骗
qīpiàn · HSK 7
cheat
🎭 欺 deceive + 骗 swindle — two cheat-words stacked, doubling the con
Both halves already mean to deceive, so 欺骗 is a synonym compound that intensifies the sense. The second char 骗 (piàn) carries a 马 horse radical — old swindles often involved selling a bad horse.
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'.