谎话

• Pinyin: huǎng huà
• Hanzi breakdown: 谎 = 讠+ 荒 (speech radical + desolate/wild, speech that leads one astray); 话 = 讠+ 舌 (speech + tongue)

Meaning

A lie; a false statement. Something said that is untrue, especially in casual or interpersonal contexts.

Used to refer to lies told in everyday interpersonal situations. It is slightly more colloquial than 谎言 and emphasises the individual spoken lie or the act of lying in conversation. Often appears in the phrase 说谎话 (to tell a lie).

Examples

1. 孩子说谎话被父母当场识破，满脸通红，不知如何解释。 The parents saw right through the child’s lie on the spot; his face turned bright red, and he didn’t know how to explain himself.
2. 她一眼就看出他在说谎话，但选择暂时沉默，等待他自己坦白。 She could tell at a glance that he was lying, but she chose to stay silent for the moment and wait for him to come clean on his own.
3. 一个小小的谎话若不及时纠正，往往会演变成难以收拾的局面。 If a small lie isn’t corrected in time, it often snowballs into a situation that’s hard to fix.

Usage Guide

Context: interpersonal, daily life, parenting

Tone: disapproving

Do Say

• 他承认自己当初说了谎话，并向对方真诚地道了歉，两人的关系才得以逐步修复。(He admitted that he had told a lie and sincerely apologised to the other person, and only then did their relationship begin to gradually repair.)
• 诚实是建立信任的基础，哪怕是一句无关紧要的谎话，也可能在长期积累中动摇彼此之间的信任。(Honesty is the foundation of trust — even a seemingly trivial lie can, over time, undermine the trust between people.)

Don't Say

• 谎话 in formal legal or official contexts — use 虚假陈述 or 谎言 for more serious or formal registers; 谎话 is more suited to everyday interpersonal situations

Origin & History

谎 (to lie, false) + 话 (words/speech) — false words, a lie

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal