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颠倒黑白 (diān dǎo-hēi bái) — to deliberately distort the truth; to misrepresent facts

Definition

A chengyu meaning to deliberately twist the truth and call black white — a stronger, more literary accusation than simply lying, emphasizing malicious distortion of facts.

phrase
to deliberately distort the truthto misrepresent facts

Examples

  • ，颠倒黑白，。
    Zài fǎ tíng shàng, tā shì tú diān dǎo-hēi bái, dàn zhèng jù hěn qīng chǔ.
    In court, he tried to distort the truth, but the evidence was clear.
  • 颠倒黑白。
    Zhè zhǒng diān dǎo-hēi bái de xuān chuán huì wù dǎo hěn duō rén.
    This kind of truth-distorting propaganda will mislead many people.
  • 颠倒黑白，。
    Tā xiě de bào dào wán quán diān dǎo-hēi bái, háo wú shì shí yī jù.
    The report he wrote completely distorts the truth and has no factual basis.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

颠倒invert
颠diāntopple倒dǎoupside down
联合Coordinate
黑白black and white
黑hēiblack白báiwhite
联合Coordinate

颠倒 turns upside down, and 黑白 stands for right and wrong, so truth is distorted.

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 顛; 颠 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
頁頁yèhead
Sound part声符shēngfú
真
真zhēn顛diān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 顛 combines 頁, a head, with 真 as a sound clue; the simplified 颠 is a later shorthand, and its parts are not the historical pieces.

Open 颠 →

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 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 黑 seems to come from drawing a head marked with dots, usually read as facial tattoos.

Open 黑 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

白 is thought to picture either an acorn or a human head.

Open 白 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

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