虚構

• Reading: きょこう
• Romaji: kyokou
• Kanji breakdown: 虚 (kyo) — empty, hollow, false; 構 (kou) — structure, construct, compose
• Pronunciation: /kʲo.koː/

Meaning

Fiction; fabrication; a constructed narrative or reality that is not factual. Refers both to literary fiction and to deliberately maintained falsehoods in public discourse.

A noun used in two main contexts: (1) literary or imaginative fiction as a distinct mode from reality — the narrative frame within which stories operate; (2) a deliberately constructed myth or sustained falsehood used to uphold a social or political system. In cultural criticism, 虚構 prompts the question of what we accept as real.

Examples

1. 小説は虚構でありながら、現実の本質を深く照らし出すことがある。 A novel, while fiction, can sometimes illuminate the true nature of reality.
2. 国民を統治するために作られた虚構は、やがて崩壊することが多い。 Fabrications created to control the populace often eventually collapse.
3. 彼は自分が作り上げた虚構の中で生きることに疲れを感じていた。 He had grown weary of living inside the fiction he had constructed for himself.

Usage Guide

Context: literature, media criticism, philosophy

Tone: analytical

Origin & History

Compound of 虚 (empty, hollow, false) and 構 (structure, compose, set up). Together they describe a built structure with no true foundation — a constructed fiction.

Cultural Context

Era: Modern

Generation: All ages

Social background: Intellectual