会社
a guild ; (in olden times) an association such as a political party, religious group or trade guild ; the Japanese word for company
Chinese Reversible Words
Chinese writes its words with two characters, and nothing stops you reading them the other way round. Most of the time nothing comes of it; sometimes a second word comes out, and lives its own life beside the first. 牛奶 is milk, 奶牛 is a dairy cow. 故事 is a story, 事故 is an accident. The two words share both their characters and nothing else.
It is a classic trap for learners, and it is also the best way to remember both: you stop confusing two words once you have seen them side by side. So this page puts them side by side, one left and one right, with their reading and their meaning.
The meaning flips
139 pairs whose two translations have nothing in common.
形体
figure ; physique ; form and structure
体形
figure ; bodily form
前日
day before yesterday
头上
overhead ; above
上头
(of alcohol, love etc) to go to one’s head ; (of an idea, a song etc) to get into one's head ; to capture one's attention
起飞
(of an aircraft or rocket) to take off ; to lift off ; (fig.) (of an enterprise etc) to start to develop rapidly
HSK 3
学好
to follow good examples
心痛
to feel distressed about sth ; heartache ; cardiac pain
痛心
grieved ; pained
情调
ambience ; mood ; flavor
调情
to flirt
火红
fiery ; blazing
红火
prosperous
正中
middle ; center ; right in the middle or center
中正
fair and honest
手写
to write by hand
写手
person who writes articles - newspapers, magazines, blogs (informal) ; scribe ; copyist
式样
style
挥发
to volatilize ; to vaporize ; to evaporate (esp. at ordinary temperatures)
教主
founder or leader of a religion or sect ; (fig.) revered figure
主教
bishop
业主
owner ; proprietor
主业
main business
降下
to fall ; to drop
流血
to bleed ; to shed blood
血流
blood flow
上岸
to go ashore ; to climb ashore ; (fig.) to achieve a stable and secure life after a period of struggle (e.g. to get a government job, be admitted to a desirable university, or finally pay off one's debts)
岸上
ashore ; on the riverbank
中看
pleasant to the eye ; Taiwan pr. [zhong4 kan4]
下月
next month
天明
dawn ; daybreak
年中
within the year ; in the middle of the year ; mid-year
心虚
lacking in confidence ; diffident ; to have a guilty conscience
长生
long life
泪眼
tearful eyes
功用
function
生人
stranger ; living person ; to give birth
中空
hollow ; empty interior
明文
to state in writing (laws, rules etc)
下地
to go down to the fields ; to get up from bed ; to leave one's sickbed
地基
foundations (of a building) ; base
醉酒
to get drunk
酒醉
to become drunk
长年
all the year round
年长
senior
订制
custom-made ; made-to-order ; to have sth custom made
当家
to manage the household ; to be the one in charge of the family ; to call the shots
家当
familial property ; belongings
295 pairs in all.
Not every reversal is worth the same, and the page keeps them apart. The first kind flips the meaning: between "to lead" and "necktie", between "meeting" and "parliament", nothing is left in common. The second kind only shifts it: 互相 and 相互 both come out as "mutually", and what separates them is register and construction, not definition. Those are the harder ones, not the easier — no dictionary tells them apart, only usage does.
Linguists call these pairs reversible compounds; Chinese calls them 逆序词, "reversed-order words". The phenomenon is not a curiosity: most two-character words are loose enough a compound to survive both orders, and Chinese marks the job of each part by its place. In 牛奶, 牛 "ox" qualifies 奶 "milk"; in 奶牛 it is the other way round, and the animal takes the lead again.