谍 (dié) · spy, secret agent, espionage (classical/literary)

Meanings

1 spy
2 secret agent
3 espionage (classical/literary)

Characters

谍

dié

spy / espionage

Examples

HSK 5

间谍的工作充满危险与秘密。

Jiàndié de gōngzuò chōngmǎn wēixiǎn yǔ mìmì.

The work of a spy is full of danger and secrecy.

HSK 7-9

这部电影讲述了一名谍报人员的故事。

Zhè bù diànyǐng jiǎngshù le yī míng diébào rényuán de gùshi.

This film tells the story of an intelligence agent.

Tips

usage

谍 rarely stands alone in modern Chinese. It appears in compounds: 间谍 (spy), 谍报 (intelligence / espionage), 谍战 (spy warfare / espionage thriller as a genre). The standalone form is classical or literary.

Components

radical

讠 yán

speech (radical form of 言)

Side-speech radical on the left, compressed two-stroke form of 言. Indexes 谍 in the speaking family with 说 to say, 话 word, 议 to discuss, 谋 to plot. 谍 names a spy, someone who gathers secret words and reports, so the speech radical names the medium the spy works in.

phonetic

枼 yè

leaf (archaic, original form of 叶/葉)

Right side 枼 supplies the sound, yè shifted to dié through Old-Chinese sound change. Same phonetic in 蝶 butterfly, 牒 official document, 碟 small dish. 枼 itself pictured a leaf on a tree; with 讠 on the left, 谍 originally evoked thin written tablets (like leaves) carrying secret reports back to the prince.