虚构
xū goù · HSK 7
to make up
📖🎭 虚 xū = empty/false + 构 goù = construct: an empty construction = something made up
虚 means empty or false; 构 means to build or construct (as in 构造). Build something out of emptiness and you fabricate it: fiction, the imaginary, the invented. Think of a made-up story with no real foundation.
虚 — tiger radical 虍 + hill 丘 (now 业)
Originally depicted a large mound or hill where tigers (虍) roamed, written with 虍 over 丘. Because such high places were often deserted, the meaning shifted from 'big hill' to 'empty, void, vacant,' and by extension 'unreal' or 'humble.' The bottom 丘 was later simplified to 业.