骗人

• Pinyin: piàn rén
• Hanzi breakdown: 骗 = 马 + 扁 (horse + flat/thin — a horse that bolts; extended to deceitful flight); 人 = 亻 (a standing person)

Meaning

To deceive; to cheat; to trick someone. Also used predicatively or attributively to describe something or someone as deceptive.

骗人 is versatile: it functions as a verbal phrase, an attributive adjective, or an exclamatory judgment. Common patterns: 别骗人了, 骗人的把戏, 骗人的广告, 骗人的谎言. Register ranges from casual accusation among friends to formal descriptions of fraudulent conduct.

Examples

1. 那则广告用夸大其词的宣传手段吸引消费者购买，实际效果与宣传内容相差甚远，明显是骗人的。 That ad used exaggerated hype to lure consumers into buying, but the actual results were nowhere near what it claimed—it was clearly a scam.
2. 他一向坦诚，从不骗人，即便面对可能引起对方不快的真相，也会选择直接说出来。 He’s always honest and never lies; even when the truth might upset someone, he chooses to say it directly.
3. 网络上流传的所谓一夜暴富秘籍几乎全是骗人的把戏，轻信者往往损失惨重、悔不当初。 Online “get rich overnight” secrets are almost all scams, and people who believe them often suffer huge losses and bitter regret.

Usage Guide

Context: daily life, consumer affairs, ethics, social media

Tone: negative

Do Say

• 那种声称服用几粒胶囊便能彻底逆转慢性病症的广告，在科学上完全站不住脚，不过是利用患者急于康复的心理大肆骗人的营销噱头。(Those advertisements claiming that taking a few capsules can completely reverse chronic conditions have no scientific basis whatsoever — they are nothing more than marketing gimmicks that exploit patients' desperate desire for recovery to deceive people.)
• 在商业谈判中，故意隐瞒重大不利信息以诱使对方签约，不仅是典型的骗人行为，在法律层面上同样构成欺诈，面临相应的法律责任。(In commercial negotiations, deliberately concealing material adverse information to induce the other party to sign a contract is not only a typical act of deception but also constitutes fraud at the legal level, exposing the perpetrator to corresponding legal liability.)

Don't Say

• 你骗人 as a playful tease is fine between close friends; but in formal or written contexts it is a serious accusation and must be substantiated with evidence

Origin & History

骗 (to deceive — 马 horse radical + 扁 phonetic — a horse that bolts flat out; extended to cunning deception) + 人 (person) — to deceive a person

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal