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換湯不換藥

简换汤不换药 · 繁換湯不換藥

Mandarin · pinyin huàn tāng bù huàn yào

different broth but the same old medicine (idiom); a change in name only
a change in form but not in substance

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Characters in this entry

換: huàn · change, exchange; substitute
湯: Look up this written character
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
藥: Look up this written character
换: huàn · change
汤: tāng · hot water; soup, gravy, broth
药: yào · leaf of Dahurian angelica plant; medicine

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

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Mandarin tones

4–1–4–4–4 · huan4 tang1 bu4 huan4 yao4

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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.

換湯不換藥 · find source passages ↗ · 换汤不换药 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

wun6 tong1 bat1 wun6 joek6

Cantonese word readings for 換湯不換藥. 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 change only the form but not the content; same old stuff but with a different label

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

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