南辕北辙

南辕北辙 nányuánběizhé

To act in a way that defeats one's purpose (idiom)^†

南辕北辙 in a sentence HSK 6 繁體南轅北轍 nanyuanbeizhe

What 南辕北辙 means

To act in a way that defeats one's purpose (idiom)^†

† Our own dictionary has no entry for 南辕北辙, so these meanings are adapted from CC-CEDICT, published by MDBG and its contributors and based on CEDICT © 1997, 1998 Paul Andrew Denisowski, and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Character by character

南辕北辙 is written with 4 characters. Chinese words are usually easier to remember once you can see what each part contributes.

南

nán

South

辕

—

no separate entry

北

běi

North

辙

zhé

Track (rut)

Words that share a character with 南辕北辙

How to write 南辕北辙

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Practise 南辕北辙 on printable 田字格 sheets, trace it in the writing practice tool, or watch any other character in the Stroke Order Animator.

南辕北辙 in a sentence

方向错了，越努力越南辕北辙。

Fāngxiàng cuò le, yuè nǔlì yuè nányuánběizhé.

With the wrong direction, the harder you try the further you go astray.

他们的做法和目标南辕北辙。

Tāmen de zuòfǎ hé mùbiāo nányuánběizhé.

Their methods run directly counter to their goal.

Every sentence on this site that uses 南辕北辙 is collected on the 南辕北辙 sentence page. Want pinyin above a sentence of your own? Paste it into the Pinyin Annotator.

Questions about 南辕北辙

What does 南辕北辙 mean in English?

南辕北辙 is pronounced nányuánběizhé and means To act in a way that defeats one's purpose (idiom) †.

How do you pronounce 南辕北辙?

南辕北辙 is nányuánběizhé in pinyin — written nanyuanbeizhe without tone marks. Press the audio button on this page to hear it spoken by a native voice.

What are the characters in 南辕北辙?

南辕北辙 is written with 4 characters: 南 (nán) South, 北 (běi) North, 辙 (zhé) Track (rut). Knowing the parts is usually how the whole word becomes memorable.

How is 南辕北辙 written in traditional Chinese?

南轅北轍. The simplified form 南辕北辙 is used in mainland China and Singapore; 南轅北轍 is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Both are pronounced nányuánběizhé.

Is 南辕北辙 an HSK word?

Yes — 南辕北辙 is on the official HSK 6 vocabulary list. You can study it with the rest of that list on the HSK 6 page.

Studied around the same time

沐浴 mùyù 拿手 náshǒu 纳闷儿 nàmènr 耐用 nàiyòng 难得 nándé 难堪 nánkān 难能可贵 nánnéngkěguì 恼火 nǎohuǒ

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