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扭轉乾坤

简扭转乾坤 · 繁扭轉乾坤

Mandarin · pinyin niǔ zhuǎn qián kūn

lit. to upend heaven and earth (idiom)
fig. to change the course of events
to turn things around

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Characters in this entry

扭: niǔ · turn, twist, wrench; seize, grasp
轉: Look up this written character
乾: qián · gān · dry; warming principle of the sun, penetrating and fertilizing, heavenly generative principle (male); trigram ☰; hexagram ䷀
坤: kūn · earth; feminine, female; trigram ☷; hexagram ䷁
转: zhuǎn · shift, move, turn

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

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Mandarin tones

3–3–2–1 · niu3 zhuan3 qian2 kun1

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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.

扭轉乾坤 · find source passages ↗ · 扭转乾坤 · 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) to bring about radical change in a situation
(idiomatic) to reverse a course of events

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

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