TongTong
Sign in

错位 (cuò wèi) — (medicine) to be dislocated; (figurative) to be misaligned, to be in the wrong place

Definition

Literally 'wrongly positioned' — covers both a joint dislocating (bone slips out of place) and things being out of alignment (roles, pages, expectations). A concrete physical mismatch, unlike 古怪 which describes a person's odd personality.

verb
(medicine) to be dislocated(figurative) to be misalignedto be in the wrong place

Examples

  • 错位。
    Tā dǎ lán qiú shí jiān bǎng cuò wèi le.
    His shoulder was dislocated while playing basketball.
  • 错位。
    Zhè zhǒng jué sè cuò wèi ràng tuán duì hé zuò biàn de hěn kùn nan.
    This kind of role reversal makes teamwork very difficult.
  • 错位，，错位。
    Wén dàng lǐ de yè mǎ cuò wèi le, xū yào jiǎn chá, yǒu jǐ yè cuò wèi le.
    The page numbers in the document need checking; a few pages are misplaced.

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.

错cuòwrong
位wèiposition

错位 is a 位, position, that is 错, wrong.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 錯; 错 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
金金jīnmetal
Sound part声符shēngfú
昔
昔xī錯cuò
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 錯 pairs 金 (metal) with 昔 as a sound part; the simplified 错 is a later abbreviation.

Open 错 →

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
人人rénman
Sound part声符shēngfú
立
立lì位wèi
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

位 combines 人 (man), related to people, with 立, which gives the sound. It was often simply written as 立.

Open 位 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Abstract ConceptsIllness & Symptoms

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.