DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

反敗為勝

简反败为胜 · 繁反敗為勝

Mandarin · pinyin fǎn bài wéi shèng

to turn defeat into victory (idiom); to turn the tide

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

反: fǎn · reverse, opposite, contrary, anti
敗: Look up this written character
為: Look up this written character
勝: shèng · victory; excel, be better than
败: bài · be defeated, decline, fail
为: wèi · do, handle, govern, act; be
胜: shèng · victory; excel, be better than

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

3–4–2–4 · fan3 bai4 wei2 sheng4

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

5character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

反敗為勝 · find source passages ↗ · 反败为胜 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) to turn the tables; to turn defeat into victory

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack