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歪打正著

简歪打正着 · 繁歪打正著

Mandarin · pinyin wāi dǎ zhèng zháo

to succeed by a lucky stroke

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Characters in this entry

歪: wāi · slant; inclined; askew, awry
打: dǎ · strike, hit, beat; fight; attack
正: zhèng · right, proper, correct
著: zhù · zhe · manifest; (Cant.) to wear
着: zhe · make move, take action

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–4–2 · wai1 da3 zheng4 zhao2

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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.

歪打正著 · find source passages ↗ · 歪打正着 · find source passages ↗

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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 have used the wrong method or have had no intention of doing something but arrive at the correct result nevertheless

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

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