为难
to feel embarrassed or awkward ; to make things difficult (for someone) ; to find things difficult (to do or manage)
HSK 6
难为
to bother ; to press sb, usu. to do sth ; it's a tough job
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 only shifts
144 near-synonym pairs: reversing them changes the register or the construction, not the definition.
楼顶
top of a building
顶楼
top floor ; attic ; loft
火炮
cannon ; gun ; artillery
炮火
artillery barrage ; gunfire
门前
in front of the door
前门
front door ; main entrance ; honest and upright approach (as opposed to 後門|后门, back-door or under the counter)
变色
to change color ; to discolor ; to change countenance
市面
the marketplace (i.e. the world of business and commerce)
面市
to hit the market (of a new product)
年幼
young ; underage
幼年
childhood ; infancy
终年
entire year ; throughout the year ; age at death
深水
deepwater
水深
depth (of waterway) ; sounding
眩晕
vertigo ; dizziness ; fainting
晕眩
to feel dizzy ; dizziness
清查
to investigate thoroughly ; to carefully inspect ; to verify
查清
to find out ; to ascertain ; to get to the bottom of
过高
too high
高清
high definition (television etc) ; high fidelity (audio)
清高
noble and virtuous ; aloof from politics and material pursuits
碰触
to touch
触碰
to touch ; (fig.) to touch on (a matter)
躲闪
to evade ; to dodge (out of the way)
闪躲
to dodge ; to evade
闭关
to close the passes ; to seal off the country ; seclusion (monastic practice, e.g. of Chan Buddhists)
胆大
daring ; bold ; audacious
怜爱
to have tender affection for ; to love tenderly ; to pamper sb
爱怜
to show tenderness ; to coo over ; affection
量产
to mass-produce
选票
a vote ; ballot
票选
to vote by ballot
明月
bright moon ; refers to 夜明珠, a legendary pearl that can glow in the dark
胸前
(on the) chest ; bosom
前胸
human chest ; breast
蓝天
blue sky
天蓝
sky blue
状告
to sue ; to take to court ; to file a lawsuit
告状
to tell on sb ; to complain (to a teacher, a superior etc) ; to bring a lawsuit
皮毛
fur ; fur clothing ; skin and hair
毛皮
fur ; pelt
年末
end of the year
末年
the final years (of a regime)
伤悲
sad ; sorrowful (literary)
击打
to beat ; to lash
借出
to lend
出借
to lend ; to put out a loan
剪裁
to tailor (clothes) ; to trim (expenditure)
裁剪
to cut out
相识
to get to know each other ; acquaintance
识相
sensitive ; tactful
苦痛
pain ; suffering
寒风
cold wind
风寒
wind chill ; cold weather ; common cold (medicine)
世家
family influential for generations ; aristocratic family
家世
family background
顶峰
peak ; summit ; fig. high point
峰顶
summit ; crest
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.