I just found this cool thread on Baidu Zhidao, where posters have collected examples of Chinese words that can be reversed. They’re grouped into categories based on how related the meanings are after you swap the characters around.
This list is by no means comprehensive – there are probably thousands of words like this. These are just some interesting examples, courtesy of the users at Baidu Zhidao.
You can study this list on Skritter.
Verb / adjective & noun reversals
虚空 – 空虚
empty – emptiness
煎熬 – 熬煎
to suffer – suffering
情痴 – 痴情
to be infatuated – infatuation
报喜 – 喜报
to announce – announcement
愿意 – 意愿
to wish for – a wish
适合 – 合适
to suit – appropriate
年少 – 少年
young – youth
忌妒 – 妒忌
to be jealous of – jealousy
金黄 – 黄金
golden – gold
画图 – 图画
to draw – drawing
锁门 – 门锁
to lock a door – door lock
犯罪 – 罪犯
to commit a crime – criminal
Meaning is very similar when reversed
宵夜 – 夜宵
midnight snack
讲演 – 演讲
lecture
觉察 – 察觉
sense, perceive
夜半 – 半夜
midnight
胆大 – 大胆
bold, brave
依偎 – 偎依
cuddle, snuggle
喜欢 – 欢喜
like, be fond of
累积 – 积累
accumulate
互相 – 相互
each other
代替 – 替代
replace, substitute
问询 – 询问
inquire
奋发 – 发奋
effort, work hard
质朴 – 朴质
simple, plain
寂静 – 静寂
quiet, still
容颜 – 颜容
countenance, bearing
情感 – 感情
feeling, emotion
别离 – 离别
to leave, to part
久远 – 远久
old, distant
登攀 – 攀登
to climb, to scale
并吞 – 吞并
merge, annex
整齐 – 齐整
orderly, neat
虫害 – 害虫
pest insect
Meaning is closely related when reversed
Products and sources
牛奶 – 奶牛
milk – cow
蜂蜜 – 蜜蜂
honey – bee
猪肉 – 肉猪
pork – pig for eating
菜油 – 油菜
rapeseed oil – oilseed rape
蛇毒 – 毒蛇
venom – viper
鸡肉 – 肉鸡
chicken (meat) – chicken (bird)
井水 – 水井
well water – well
笔画 – 画笔
brush stroke – brush
Other closely related reversible words
和平 – 平和
peace, placid
语言 – 言语
language – speech
开放 – 放开
to open – to relase
焰火 – 火焰
fireworks – flame
雪白 – 白雪
snow white – white snow
彩色 – 色彩
multi-coloured – colouring
云彩 – 彩云
cloud – rosy clouds
明天 – 天明
tomorrow – dawn
牙刷 – 刷牙
toothbrush – to brush teeth
计算 – 算计
to calculate – to reckon
Meaning is loosely related when reversed
缓和 – 和缓
to alleviate – to relax
质变 – 变质
fundamental change – detoriate
生产 – 产生
childbirth – to give rise to
现实 – 实现
reality – to realise
中心 – 心中
heart – in one’s heart
官宦 – 宦官
official – eunuch official
发挥 – 挥发
to develop – volatile
面相 – 相面
facial features – facial divination
感动 – 动感
to move – dynamism
上马 – 马上
mount a horse – immediately
调情 – 情调
to flirt – tone, mood
动乱 – 乱动
turmoil – to meddle with
人情 – 情人
emotion – lover
乡下 – 下乡
countryside – go to countryside
海上 – 上海
maritime – Shanghai
故事 – 事故
story – accident
当家 – 家当
manage household – family property
Meaning is totally different when reversed
带领 – 领带
to guide – neck tie
万一 – 一万
just in case – ten thousand
文盲 – 盲文
illiterate – braille
Study this list on Skritter
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This is very cool Hugh! People often say Chinese characters is what makes Chinese so hard, but I think once you learn them it becomes really rewarding…they almost become like lego blocks that you can play with. Thanks for the interesting post!
Yeah they’re definitely one of the most enjoyable things to learn. You sometimes meet academics whose knowledge of characters is fantastic, but who can barely speak the language at all.
All these are my opinion, maybe not true, but they come from my experience of Chinese culture
虚空 – 空虚: 虚空 usually describe the universe especially an abstract concept ,like 虚空之中
空虚 a kind of feeling
年少 – 少年：年少 emphasis on the period of time that you are young， like 年少时分
少年 is used to describe a person who is young
I was halfway through going over this list for the second time just now when it struck me just how many words you can learn by knowing when you can swap characters around. It’s actually a blessing, English doesn’t let you do this. Truly a treat, thanks for finding this gem, Hugh. I’m only a novice really so building up a vocabulary is important to me, this is the easiest way I can think of to accomplish this!
Very cool, I’m definitely saving this.
However, this reminds me of a question I’ve had for a long time but cannot find an answer to.
Is there any logic to the hanzi order in multiple-hanzi words???
I can come up with some to help remember certain words, crude or not, but I don’t know if I’m making it up case-by-case, of if there really is an underlying trend.
中心 (center’s heart; redundant = center or heart) – 心中 (heart’s / spirit’s center, so it means like feeling)
人情 (person’s emotions; emotions) – 情人 (emotion’s person; lover)
All of these work if you flip and use “of” instead. Some are easier that way:
明天 (day of brightness; tomorrow) – 天明 (the bright of day; dawn)
年少 (small of years (in english, small in years, lol); young) – 少年 (years of smallness; youth)
I’d have to look up and know the hanzi WELL if I were to try these with words that have two very similiar-meaning hanzi, like the examples for 喜欢, 情感, & 语言. @_@
So yeah, I seem to see this “NounModifer” nature of 2-hanzi words, but who am I to say? I can only vaguely try to pay attention to this as I learn new words. Maybe I’m on to something here! But then, surely I’m not the first.
Is there a definitive answer??
Well using “of” in that way makes sense because of the general rule in Chinese that modifiers precede what they modify. So it should generally be the case that the first character is modifying the second. That works with your examples, e.g. 明天 -> “day of brightness”.
ok, lol, I guess you’re right! It’s so hard to analyze them correctly, and even worse trying to make english translation… I kept wondering if it was noun modifier or modifier noun. So yeah, it definitely makes sense if it’s true, how it’s following that general rule.
IF….it’s true.
Like I said, this is just me figuring it out. I’m still only beginner at Chinese. If wonder if anyone knows or can find out a definitive answer on how these words are composed…..
犯罪-罪犯: to commit a crime – criminal
Nice list, keep them coming!
Thanks, added it!
I was going to say you were missing niánqīng and qīngnián, and then realized 年轻 and 青年 weren’t the same characters. I still get those confused on a regular basis!
Add this pair: 万一 and 一万.
Thanks, added it to the list
Nice list here you got one more
感動 = to touch, to affect to move
動感 = Dynamic
Cool, got it
how about liu han and han liu ? I think they are both “sweat,” but one of them is a noun and the other a verb. Dui bu dui ?
–ed
[...] are lot of cool things in Chinese vocabulary, from forwards-backwards words to the physical shape of characters being used to express meaning. Another interesting type of [...]