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翻雲覆雨

简翻云覆雨 · 繁翻雲覆雨

Mandarin · pinyin fān yún fù yǔ

to produce clouds with one turn of the hand and rain with another (idiom); fig. to shift one's ground
tricky and inconstant
to make love

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Characters in this entry

翻: fān · flip over, upset, capsize
雲: yún · clouds; Yunnan province
覆: fù · cover; tip over; return; reply
雨: yǔ · rain; rainy; Kangxi radical 173
云: yún · say, speak; clouds

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

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Mandarin tones

1–2–4–3 · fan1 yun2 fu4 yu3

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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.

翻雲覆雨 · find source passages ↗ · 翻云覆雨 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 3 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

faan1 wan4 fuk1 jyu5

Cantonese word readings for 翻雲覆雨. 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

(figurative) to be fickle; to shift one's grounds constantly
(figurative) to play politics; to be tricky
(figurative) to make love

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

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