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陰差陽錯

简阴差阳错 · 繁陰差陽錯

Mandarin · pinyin yīn chā yáng cuò

(idiom) due to an unexpected turn of events

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Characters in this entry

陰: Look up this written character
差: chà · chā · to differ; different, wrong; nearly, almost; an officer
陽: yáng · the active, male principle in Chinese philosophy (yang); light; sun
錯: cuò · error, blunder, mistake, wrong
阴: yīn · 'female' principle; dark; secret
阳: yáng · 'male' principle; light; sun
错: cuò · error, blunder, mistake; wrong

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

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Mandarin tones

1–1–2–4 · yin1 cha1 yang2 cuo4

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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.

陰差陽錯 · find source passages ↗ · 阴差阳错 · 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) an accident, mistake or event arising from many different unforeseen causes; a strange combination of circumstances; accidentally; serendipitously

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

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