見抜く

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 見抜く is a transitive godan verb read みぬく, meaning to see through an appearance and detect a hidden lie, motive, or essential nature.
• Basic usage: Mark what is detected with を, as in うそを見抜く and 本心を見抜く.
  • 探偵は証言に隠されたうそを見抜いた。 describes a detective detecting a lie hidden in testimony; 人の本心をすぐ見抜くのは難しい。 says that immediately seeing through a person's true feelings is difficult.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• うそを見抜く
  • を marks what is discovered through scrutiny; the phrase means more than simply seeing a lie.
• 見抜くのは難しい
  • の nominalizes the entire act of 見抜く, allowing it to serve as the topic of an evaluation of difficulty.
• 見抜く and 見る
  • 見る broadly means to look or see, whereas 見抜く focuses on successfully detecting something concealed.