顛倒

Chinese

	inverted; jolt; top	upset; turn over; to tip upset; turn over; to tip; to pour; to go home; to the contrary; inverted; to fall; to collapse; to topple; to change; to fail; bankrupt
trad. (顛倒)	顛	倒
simp. (颠倒)	颠	倒
alternative forms	顛踱／颠踱 (thian-tho̍h)

Pronunciation 1

Mandarin
(Pinyin): diāndǎo

(Zhuyin): ㄉㄧㄢㄉㄠˇ
Cantonese (Jyutping): din¹ dou²
Hakka (Sixian, PFS): tiên-to / tiên-tó
Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): thian-tho̍h

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: diāndǎo
  - Zhuyin: ㄉㄧㄢㄉㄠˇ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: diandǎo
  - Wade–Giles: tien¹-tao³
  - Yale: dyān-dǎu
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: diandao
  - Palladius: дяньдао (djanʹdao)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ti̯ɛn⁵⁵ tɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: din¹ dou²
  - Yale: dīn dóu
  - Cantonese Pinyin: din¹ dou²
  - Guangdong Romanization: din¹ dou²
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /tiːn⁵⁵ tou̯³⁵/
Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: tiên-to / tiên-tó
  - Hakka Romanization System: dien^ˊ do / dien^ˊ do^ˋ
  - Hagfa Pinyim: dian¹ do⁴ / dian¹ do³
  - Sinological IPA: /ti̯en²⁴⁻¹¹ to⁵⁵/, /ti̯en²⁴ to³¹/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: thian-tho̍h
  - Tâi-lô: thian-tho̍h
  - Phofsit Daibuun: tientoih
  - IPA (Xiamen): /tʰiɛn⁴⁴⁻²² tʰoʔ⁴/
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /tʰiɛn³³ tʰoʔ²⁴/
  - IPA (Zhangzhou): /tʰiɛn⁴⁴⁻²² tʰoʔ¹²¹/
  - IPA (Taipei): /tʰiɛn⁴⁴⁻³³ tʰoʔ⁴/
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /tʰiɛn⁴⁴⁻³³ tʰɤʔ⁴/

Middle Chinese: ten tawX

Rime
Character	顛	倒
Reading #	1/1	1/2
Initial (聲)	端 (5)	端 (5)
Final (韻)	先 (85)	豪 (89)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	IV	I
Fanqie	都年切	都晧切
Baxter	ten	tawX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ten/	/tɑu^X/
Pan Wuyun	/ten/	/tɑu^X/
Shao Rongfen	/tɛn/	/tɑu^X/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/tɛn/	/taw^X/
Li Rong	/ten/	/tɑu^X/
Wang Li	/tien/	/tɑu^X/
Bernhard Karlgren	/tien/	/tɑu^X/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	diān	dǎo
Expected Cantonese Reflex	din¹	dou²

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*tˤi tˤawʔ/

(Zhengzhang): /*tiːn taːwʔ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	顛	倒
Reading #	1/1	1/2
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	diān	dǎo
Middle Chinese	‹ ten ›	‹ taw^X ›
Old Chinese	/*tˁi/	/*tˁawʔ/
English	top	turn upside down (v.i.)
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. * as coda may in fact be -t or -p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	顛	倒
Reading #	1/2	1/2
No.	17038	2114
Phonetic component	眞	刀
Rime group	眞	宵
Rime subdivision	1	1
Corresponding MC rime	顚	倒
Old Chinese	/*tiːn/	/*taːwʔ/
Notes		見漢賦

Verb

顛倒

(literal) to turn upside-down; to reverse; to be topsy-turvy
- 東方未晞，顛倒裳衣。
  东方未晞，颠倒裳衣。
  From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version
  Dōngfāng wèi xī, diāndǎo chángyī.
  Before there was a streak of dawn in the east,
  I was putting on my clothes upside down.
(figurative) to be confused; to be deranged; to go crazy; to be chaotic; to be disorderly; to fool around; to behave irrationally or frivolously
(literary) to be overthrown; to be overturned
- 訊予不顧，顛倒思予。
  讯予不顾，颠倒思予。
  From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version
  Xùn yǔ bùgù, diāndǎo sī yǔ.
  I admonish him, but he will not regard me;
  When he is overthrown, he will think of me.

Derived terms

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (顛倒):

→ Japanese: 顛倒(てんとう) (tentō)

Pronunciation 2

Mandarin
(Pinyin): diāndǎo

(Zhuyin): ㄉㄧㄢㄉㄠˇ
Hakka
(Sixian, PFS): tiên-to

(Hailu, HRS): dien^ˋ do^ˇ
Southern Min
(Hokkien, POJ): tian-tó / tian-tò

(Teochew, Peng'im): ding¹ do³ / dêng¹ do³

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: diāndǎo
  - Zhuyin: ㄉㄧㄢㄉㄠˇ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: diandǎo
  - Wade–Giles: tien¹-tao³
  - Yale: dyān-dǎu
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: diandao
  - Palladius: дяньдао (djanʹdao)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ti̯ɛn⁵⁵ tɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: tiên-to
  - Hakka Romanization System: dien^ˊ do
  - Hagfa Pinyim: dian¹ do⁴
  - Sinological IPA: /ti̯en²⁴⁻¹¹ to⁵⁵/
- (Hailu, incl. Zhudong)
  - Hakka Romanization System: dien^ˋ do^ˇ
  - Sinological IPA: /tien⁵³ to¹¹/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: tian-tó
  - Tâi-lô: tian-tó
  - Phofsit Daibuun: diendoir
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /tiɛn³³ to⁵⁵⁴/
  - IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /tiɛn⁴⁴⁻²² to⁵³/
- (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: tian-tò
  - Tâi-lô: tian-tò
  - Phofsit Daibuun: diendoix
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /tiɛn⁴⁴⁻³³ tɤ²¹/
  - IPA (Taipei): /tiɛn⁴⁴⁻³³ to¹¹/
- (Teochew)
  - Peng'im: ding¹ do³ / dêng¹ do³
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: ting tò / teng tò
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /tiŋ³³⁻²³ to²¹³/, /teŋ³³⁻²³ to²¹³/

Note: dêng1 do3 - Jieyang.

Conjunction

顛倒

(literary or Taiwanese Hakka, Xiamen and Taiwanese Hokkien, Teochew) instead; on the contrary
(literary) only

References

“顛倒”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.
“顛倒”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.

Japanese

Kanji in this term
顛	倒
てん Hyōgai	とう Grade: S
on'yomi

Alternative spelling
顚倒 (kyūjitai)

For pronunciation and definitions of 顛倒 – see the following entry.

【転倒てんとう】

a fall, overturning, a tumble

to fall, to overturn

to be upset

to be reversed

(This term, 顛倒, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

顛倒