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彎道超車

简弯道超车 · 繁彎道超車

Mandarin · pinyin wān dào chāo chē

to overtake on a bend (driving)
(fig.) taking opportunity of tight corners to make swift progress (economy etc)

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Characters in this entry

彎: Look up this written character
道: dào · path, road, street; method, way
超: chāo · jump over, leap over; surpass
車: chē · cart, vehicle; carry in a cart; Kangxi radical 159
弯: wān · bend, curve
车: chē · cart, vehicle; carry in cart

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

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Mandarin tones

1–4–1–1 · wan1 dao4 chao1 che1

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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.

彎道超車 · find source passages ↗ · 弯道超车 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

verb

to overtake another car on a bend
(figurative) to take opportunity of shortcuts to make swift progress

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

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