倒挂 (dào guà) — to hang upside down; to be inverted; (figurative) to purchase dearly and sell cheaply (price inversion); (figurative) to contribute more but receive less; reversal of the natural order

Definition

倒挂 literally means 'hanging upside down' and is also used figuratively for a reversal where input exceeds output — e.g. workers earning less than what they produce. It is a separable verb: 倒挂着 / 挂倒了.

verb
to hang upside downto be inverted(figurative) to purchase dearly and sell cheaply (price inversion)(figurative) to contribute more but receive lessreversal of the natural order

Examples

  • 倒挂。
    Biān fú xǐ huan dào guà zài dòng xué de dǐng bù.
    Bats like to hang upside down from the top of caves.
  • 倒挂,。
    Zuì jìn nóng chǎn pǐn jià gé dào guà, nóng mín shōu rù fǎn ér jiǎn shǎo le.
    Recently, agricultural product prices have inverted, and farmers' incomes have actually decreased.
  • ,倒挂。
    Zài zhè ge háng yè lǐ, fù chū yǔ huí bào yán zhòng dào guà.
    In this industry, effort and reward are severely inverted.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

倒dǎoupside down

倒 means upside down, and 挂 means to hang, so the word describes hanging inverted.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rén
Sound part声符shēngfú
到
到dào倒dào
Same sound today

倒 combines 亻 (person) with 到, which gives the sound.

Open 倒 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 掛; 挂 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
⺘Written in full as手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
卦
卦guà掛guà
Same sound today

In the traditional form 掛, the hand part ⺘ and the sound part 卦 show hooking or hanging something with the hand; this form was originally a popular form of 挂.

Open 挂 →

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