诈 (zhà) is a Chinese character meaning “to cheat”. It is written from 讠 (speech radical) and 乍 (suddenly; abruptly (also the sound part in 作, 昨, 炸)), side by side, and takes 7 strokes.
Build the character for “to cheat; to defraud”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
讠 + 乍
Left–right structure
Structure from: 说文解字: 詐，欺也。从言乍聲；现代简化字形拆分 ⿰讠乍，以 hanzi-writer-data 核验：7 画 = 讠 2 画 + 乍 5 画
Memory aid
Speech (讠) sprung on you all of a sudden (乍): words that arrive too fast to check are how you get cheated.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
7 strokes
In real words
- 讹诈é zhàto blackmail; to extort by fraud诈 = zhà
- 狡诈jiǎo zhàcrafty and deceitful诈 = zhà
Go deeper
All readings
to cheat
to cheat; to defraud; to swindle; to feign in order to trick someone
用假话或假象骗人；也指假装以套取实情。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 讹诈é zhàto blackmail; to extort by fraud诈 = zhà
- 狡诈jiǎo zhàcrafty and deceitful诈 = zhà
Sound component
乍 family exact
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 诈 mean?
诈 (zhà) means to cheat; to defraud; to swindle; to feign in order to trick someone.
How do you pronounce 诈?
It is pronounced zhà.
What parts is 诈 made of?
讠 (speech radical) and 乍 (suddenly; abruptly (also the sound part in 作, 昨, 炸)), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字: 詐，欺也。从言乍聲；现代简化字形拆分 ⿰讠乍，以 hanzi-writer-data 核验：7 画 = 讠 2 画 + 乍 5 画. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 诈 have?
7. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 诈?
讠. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 诈?
Common ones are 讹诈. The reading of 诈 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.