DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

開倒車

简开倒车 · 繁開倒車

Mandarin · pinyin kāi dào chē

to drive in reverse
fig. to take a backward step
retrogressive
trying to turn the clock back

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

開: kāi · open; initiate, begin, start
倒: dào · fall over; lie down; take turns
車: chē · cart, vehicle; carry in a cart; Kangxi radical 159
开: kāi · open; initiate, begin, start
车: chē · cart, vehicle; carry in cart

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

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

1–4–1 · kai1 dao4 che1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

5character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

開倒車 · find source passages ↗ · 开倒车 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

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.

verb

(literally) to back a car; to reverse a vehicle; to drive backwards
(figuratively) to turn back the clock; to put the clock back; to turn back the wheel of history

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

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