Chinese word dictionary

扭转乾坤

niǔ zhuǎn qián kūn · lit. to upend heaven and earth (idiom); fig. to change the course of events; to turn things around

Practice word

Word information

Simplified扭转乾坤

Traditional扭轉乾坤

Pinyinniǔ zhuǎn qián kūn

Part of speechDictionary

HSK 3.0Not listed

HSK 2.0Not listed

Character breakdown

Study each Hanzi separately, then return to the complete word so pronunciation, meaning, and movement stay connected.

扭niǔ

to turn, to twist, to wrench; to grasp, to seize

转zhuǎn

to move, to convey; to turn, to revolve, to circle; to forward mail

乾gān

arid, dry; to fertilize; to penetrate; heavenly generative principle (male)

坤kūn

earth; feminine

How to learn 扭转乾坤

Listen once without reading, repeat the pinyin with its tones, then write every character in sequence. Finally, recall the complete meaning instead of memorizing each character as an isolated translation.

When the word appears in a sentence, check whether its part of speech and meaning match the definition shown here. Chinese words can change nuance with context.

Related vocabulary

Words with the same characters

Compare how a familiar Hanzi changes meaning inside another word.

转zhuǎn

to turn; to change direction; to transfer; to forward (mail); (Internet) to share (sb else's content)

转发zhuǎnfā

to transmit; to forward (mail, SMS, packets of data); to pass on; to republish (an article from another publication)

转机zhuǎnjī

(to take) a turn for the better; to change planes

好转hǎozhuǎn

to improve; to take a turn for the better; improvement

转变zhuǎnbiàn

to change; to transform; shift; transformation; CL:個|个[ge4]

转告zhuǎngào

to pass on; to communicate; to transmit