向外
outward
外向
extroverted (personality) ; (economics etc) export-oriented
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.
私家
private ; privately owned or managed
家私
family property ; family wealth
冷清
cold and cheerless ; desolate ; deserted
负重
(lit. and fig.) to carry a heavy load ; to carry a heavy burden
重负
heavy load ; heavy burden (also fig. of tax)
实证
actual proof ; concrete evidence ; empirical
公办
state-run
黑发
black hair
开打
(of a sports competition or match) to commence ; (of a war or battle) to break out ; to perform acrobatic or choreographed fighting (in Chinese opera)
合约
contract ; agreement
约合
approximately ; about (some numerical value)
正反
positive and negative ; pros and cons ; inside and outside
放下
to lay down ; to put down ; to let go of
下放
to delegate ; to decentralize ; to demote a party cadre to work on the shop floor or in the countryside
灵通
fast and abundant (news) ; clever ; effective
通灵
to communicate with the spirits ; psychic ; (ears) sensitive
船上
aboard
上船
to get on the boat
运转
to work ; to operate ; to revolve
转运
to forward ; to transfer ; to transship
敌对
hostile ; enemy (factions) ; combative
对敌
to confront ; to face the enemy
生前
(of a deceased) during one's life ; while living
前生
previous life ; previous incarnation
千秋
a thousand years ; your birthday (honorific)
秋千
swing (seat hung from a frame or branch)
笑谈
object of ridicule ; laughingstock ; to laugh over sth
动乱
turmoil ; upheaval ; unrest
乱动
to fiddle with ; to tamper with ; to meddle with
领头
to take the lead ; to be first to start
头领
head person ; leader
书评
book review ; book notice
评书
pingshu, a folk art where a single performer narrates stories from history or fiction
法学
law ; legal studies
风采
svelte ; elegant manner ; graceful bearing
采风
to collect local cultural material (recording folk songs, taking photos etc)
温室
greenhouse
室温
room temperature
后事
future events ; and what happened next... (in fiction) ; funeral arrangements
黄昏
dusk ; evening ; nightfall
面世
to be published (of art, literary works etc) ; to come out ; to take shape
世面
the wider world ; diverse aspects of society
职称
one's professional position ; title ; job title
称职
well qualified ; competent ; to be equal to the task
兵士
ordinary soldier
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.