耍赖
shuǎ lài · HSK 7
to refuse to acknowledge that one has lost the game
🙈 耍 = play or act + 赖 = renege or deny = playing dumb to dodge losing
The second syllable lài sounds like lie, the move of a sore loser who lies their way out of admitting defeat. 耍 carries the sense of putting on an act, so 耍赖 is staging shameless denial rather than owning the loss.
耍 — 而 (beard) + 女 (woman)
耍 combines 而 (originally a beard) above 女 (woman). The graph is traditionally read as a woman toying with or teasing a bearded figure, giving the sense of 'play, trifle, amuse oneself.' It is a relatively late character used mainly for the verb 'to play' or 'to perform tricks.'
赖 — 束 bundle + 负 carry/owe (originally 剌)
Originally a phono-semantic compound suggesting profit or gain from a bundle of goods, with 束 hinting at sound and the right side conveying meaning. Over time it shifted to mean 'rely on' and 'depend on,' then extended to 'deny' or 'repudiate' (as in shirking a debt one relies on others to forget).