弯路 (wān lù) — winding road; crooked path; (figurative) mistake; wrong path; detour (in life)
Definition
Literally 'crooked road'; figuratively 'a detour or wrong path' in life, meaning time wasted on mistakes. 走弯路 means to learn by trial and error, contrasted with 直路 (the straight path / doing it right).
noun
winding roadcrooked path(figurative) mistakewrong pathdetour (in life)
Measure word · 条
Examples
- 弯路，。Zhè tiáo shān lù yǒu hěn duō wān lù, kāi chē yào xiǎo xīn.This mountain road has many winding sections; drive carefully.
- 弯路，。Tā nián qīng de shí hou zǒu le bù shǎo wān lù, dàn xiàn zài hěn chéng gōng.He made many mistakes when he was young, but now he is very successful.
- ，。Wǒ xī wàng nǐ néng shǎo zǒu wān lù, zhí jiē zhǎo dào shì hé zì jǐ de lù.I hope you can avoid unnecessary detours and directly find a path that suits you.
Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.