Definition
假借 is a term from Chinese character etymology, one of the Six Writings (六书) principles. It refers to the practice of borrowing an existing character to represent a homophonous word, typically for abstract concepts or function words that lacked a dedicated character. For example, 来 originally meant 'wheat' but was borrowed for the verb 'to come', and 我 originally meant a weapon but was borrowed for the first-person pronoun. As a verb, 假借 means 'to borrow a character phonetically' or 'to use a character for its sound value'.
v.
to borrow a character phoneticallyto use a character for its homophonous valueto make phonetic loan use of a character
Examples
- 假借。Gǔrén cháng jiǎ jiè tóngyīnzì lái biǎoshì chōuxiàng gàiniàn.Ancient people often borrowed homophonous characters to express abstract concepts.
- ，假借。Zhège zì běnyì shì yì zhǒng wǔqì, hòulái bèi jiǎ jiè wéi rénchēng dàicí.This character originally meant a type of weapon; later it was borrowed as a personal pronoun.
- 假借。Yánjiū jiǎgǔwén de xuézhě jīngcháng tǎolùn jiǎ jiè zàozìfǎ.Scholars who study oracle bone inscriptions often discuss the phonetic loan method of character creation.
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