翻身

Mandarin · pinyin fān shēn

Meanings

  1. to turn over (when lying)
  2. (fig.) to free oneself
  3. to emancipate oneself
  4. to bring about a change of one's fortunes
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Characters in this entry

翻
fān · flip over, upset, capsize
身
shēn · body; trunk, hull; Kangxi radical 158
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–1 · fan1 shen1

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 6 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

faan1 san1

Cantonese word readings for 翻身. 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.

verb

  1. (verb-object) to turn over; to double over
  2. (verb-object) to turn around
  3. (verb-object) to stand up
  4. (verb-object) to free oneself; to emancipate oneself
  5. (classical Chinese dance) to perform a turning technique in which the dancer keeps the torso tilted while stretching out both arms on a vertical plane, spinning to resemble an electric fan

name

  1. (~村) Fanshen (a village in Zhonglu, Lichuan, Enshi prefecture, Hubei, China)

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

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

翻身 · fan1 shen1
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 88,542
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record翻身 翻身 [fan1 shen1] /to turn over (when lying)/(fig.) to free oneself/to emancipate oneself/to bring about a change of one's fortunes/