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倒行逆施

Mandarin · pinyin dào xíng nì shī

to go against the tide (idiom); to do things all wrong
to try to turn back history
a perverse way of doing things

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Characters in this entry

倒: dào · fall over; lie down; take turns
行: xíng · go; walk; move, travel; circulate; Kangxi radical 144
逆: nì · disobey, rebel; rebel, traitor
施: shī · grant, bestow; give; act; name

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–2–4–1 · dao4 xing2 ni4 shi1

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

dou2 hang4 jik6 si1

Cantonese word readings for 倒行逆施. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to do things in a perverse way; to go against good; to commit evil deeds

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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