HSK 6 · Verbs

扭转 niǔzhuǎn “to turn around” in Chinese

Said as niúzhuǎn

Traditional 扭轉

What 扭转 means

  1. to turn around
  2. to reverse (a situation)
  3. to reverse
  4. to turn around (an undesirable situation)
  5. (mechanics) torsion

How to say 扭转

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale扭niǔ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale转zhuǎn3rd tone, dipping

Said as niúzhuǎn. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. How tone changes work

扭转 in a sentence

  1. 他觉得自己占了上风，但我反过来扭转了局面。

    Tā juéde zìjǐ zhàn le shàngfēng, dàn wǒ fǎnguòlái niǔzhuǎn le júmiàn.

    He thought he had the upper hand, but I turned the tables on him.

    Sentence #9969116 from Tatoeba

How 扭转 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 扭 (niǔ) with each of its parts in a different colour
扭niǔto turn
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒuMeaning part
  • 丑ugly · chǒuSound part

扌 hints at the meaning (hand); 丑 (chǒu) hints at the sound. Compare it with niǔ.

The character 转 (zhuǎn) with each of its parts in a different colour
转zhuǎnto turn
  • 车cart · chēMeaning part
  • 专concentrated · zhuānSound part

车 hints at the meaning (cart); 专 (zhuān) hints at the sound. Compare it with zhuǎn.

How to write 扭转

扭 7 strokes · 转 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 扭转

Words with 扭

别扭bièniu · awkward

Words with 转

转zhuǎn · to turn转告zhuǎngào · to pass on转变zhuǎnbiàn · to change转达zhuǎndá · to pass on旋转xuánzhuǎn · to rotate转移zhuǎnyí · to transfer周转zhōuzhuǎn · turnover转让zhuǎnràng · to transfer (ownership)转折zhuǎnzhé · turning point

More words: Common Verbs

拟定nǐdìng · to draw up捏niē · to pinch拧níng · to twist凝视níngshì · to gaze at挪nuó · to move趴pā · to lie face down排斥páichì · to exclude排除páichú · to rule out

FAQs

扭转 (niǔzhuǎn) means “to turn around” or “to reverse (a situation)”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it niǔzhuǎn: niǔ with a 3rd tone, then zhuǎn with a 3rd tone. In speech it sounds like niúzhuǎn. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. 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, 扭转 is written 扭轉. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type niuzhuan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 扭转 from the suggestions. Typing niuzhuan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
扭转 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.