HSK 6 · Ideas

南辕北辙 nányuánběizhé “to act in a way that defeats one’s purpose” in Chinese

Traditional 南轅北轍

What 南辕北辙 means

  1. to act in a way that defeats one’s purpose
  2. to act in a way that defeats one’s purpose (idiom)

How to say 南辕北辙

    南辕北辙 in a sentence

    1. 你要南辕北辙了。

      Nǐ yào nányuánběizhé le.

      You’re heading in the opposite direction from your goal.

      Sentence #5085444 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

    How 南辕北辙 is built

    Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

    The character 南 (nán) with each of its parts in a different colour
    南nánsouth
    • 十ten · shí
    • 冂down box · jiōng
    • 丷eight form of 八 · bā
    • 干dry · gān
    The character 辕 (yuán) with each of its parts in a different colour
    辕yuánshaft of a cart or carriage
    • 车cart · chēMeaning part
    • 袁robe · yuánSound part

    车 hints at the meaning (cart); 袁 (yuán) hints at the sound. Compare it with .

    The character 北 (běi) drawn as one shape
    北běinorth

    北 is a single shape of 5 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

    Memory aidDrawn from two people sitting back to back; later borrowed for “north”.

    The character 辙 (zhé) with each of its parts in a different colour
    辙zhérut; track of a wheel
    • 车cart · chē
    • 育to produce · yù
    • 攵tap form of 攴 · pū

    How to write 南辕北辙

    南 9 strokes · 辕 14 strokes · 北 5 strokes · 辙 16 strokes

    Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

    南辕北辙 (nányuánběizhé) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
    Stroke order chart for 南辕北辙 (nányuánběizhé). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

    Words related to 南辕北辙

    Words with 南

    南nán · South南方nánfāng · the south西南xīnán · southwest东南dōngnán · southeast指南针zhǐnánzhēn · compass

    Words with 北

    北京Běijīng · Beijing北běi · north北方běifāng · north东北dōngběi · northeast西北xīběi · northwest北极běijí · the North Pole

    More words: Ideas & Concepts

    摩擦mócā · friction模范mófàn · model魔鬼móguǐ · devil模式móshì · pattern内涵nèihán · connotation凝聚níngjù · to condense配套pèitào · to form a complete set偏差piānchā · deviation

    FAQs

    南辕北辙 (nányuánběizhé) means “to act in a way that defeats one’s purpose” or “to act in a way that defeats one’s purpose (idiom)”. It is an HSK 6 word.
    Say it nányuánběizhé: nányuánběizhé. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
    In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 南辕北辙 is written 南轅北轍. The pronunciation is the same.
    Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type nanyuanbeizhe with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 南辕北辙 from the suggestions. Typing nanyuanbeizhe into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
    南辕北辙 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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    Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.