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顛倒黑白

简颠倒黑白 · 繁顛倒黑白

Mandarin · pinyin diān dǎo hēi bái

lit. to invert black and white (idiom); to distort the truth deliberately
to misrepresent the facts
to invert right and wrong

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Characters in this entry

顛: Look up this written character
倒: dào · fall over; lie down; take turns
黑: hēi · black; dark; evil, sinister; Kangxi radical 203
白: bái · white; pure, unblemished; bright
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

1–3–1–2 · dian1 dao3 hei1 bai2

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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.

顛倒黑白 · find source passages ↗ · 颠倒黑白 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

din1 dou2 hak1 baak6

Cantonese word readings for 顛倒黑白. 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

(idiomatic) to confuse right and wrong; to confound right with wrong; to distort the truth; to misrepresent the facts

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

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