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顛倒是非

简颠倒是非 · 繁顛倒是非

Mandarin · pinyin diān dǎo shì fēi

(idiom) to distort right and wrong; to deliberately mislead

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Characters in this entry

顛: Look up this written character
倒: dào · fall over; lie down; take turns
是: shì · indeed, yes, right; to be; demonstrative pronoun, this, that
非: fēi · not, negative, non-; oppose; Kangxi radical 175
颠: diān · top, peak, summit; upset

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–4–1 · dian1 dao3 shi4 fei1

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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.

顛倒是非 · find source passages ↗ · 颠倒是非 · 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 confound right with wrong; to distort the truth

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

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