74 Switch-Around Words in Mandarin

One unique phenomenon that learners of Chinese occasionally face is the accidental “swap-around” of double-syllable words when talking (and sometimes writing too). Because the vast majority of words in Mandarin are formed using two different characters, our brains will sometimes remember the word well enough but have trouble remembering which character goes before the other. Over time I’ve collected a list of these words and present them here for the benefit of learners and curious linguists.

1. 形成 xíngchéng & 成形 chéngxíng – Both mean “to form” or “forming”, however the latter is more technical and specifically refers to “forming” in chemistry, manufacturing, etc.

2. 会议 huìyì (“meeting”) & 议会 yìhuì (“parliament”)

3. 牛奶 niúnǎi (“cow’s milk”) & 奶牛 nǎiniú (“dairy cow” or “woman with big breasts”)

4. 罪犯 zuìfàn (“criminal”) & 犯罪 fànzuì (“to commit a crime”)

5. 生产 shēngchǎn (“to produce” or “to give birth to”) & 产生 chǎnshēng (“to bring about”)

6. 皮包 píbāo (“leather handbag or briefcase”) & 包皮 bāopí (“foreskin”)

7. 黄牛 huángniú (“ox; cattle” or “scalper”) & 牛黄 niúhuáng (“ox bezoar [dried cattle gallstones used in traditional Chinese medicine]”)

8. 整齐 zhěngqí (“tidy” or “regular”) & 齐整 qízhěng (“tidy and orderly”)

9. 为人 wéirén (“conduct”) & 人为 rénwéi (“man-made”)

10. 唱歌 chànggē (“to sing; singing”) & 歌唱 gēchàng (“to sing” or “song” [more formal/technical])

11. 蜜蜂 mìfēng (“bee”) & 蜂蜜 fēngmì (“honey”)

12. 合适 héshì (“suitable”) & 适合 shìhé (“to be suitable”)

13. 现实 xiànshí (“reality”) & 实现 shíxiàn (“to realise; to achieve”)

14. 喜欢 xǐhuan (“to like”) & 欢喜 huānxǐ (“joy” [uncommon])

15. 语言 yǔyán & 言语 yányǔ – Both mean language, but the former is more common whilst the latter is more technical.

16. 女儿 nǚ’ér (“daughter”) & 儿女 ér-nǚ (“sons and daughters; children”)

17. 子女 zǐnǚ (“sons and daughters; children”) & 女子 nǚzǐ (“woman” or “female”)

18. 达到 dádào (“to achieve; to reach” [e.g. a goal]) & 到达 dàodá (“to reach; to arrive” [e.g. a place])

19. 语法 yǔfǎ (“grammar”) & 法语 Fǎyǔ (“the French language”)

20. 彩色 cǎisè (“colour”) & 色彩 sècǎi (“colour” or “colouring; quality”)

21. 来往 láiwǎng & 往来 wǎnglái – Both mean “dealings; contact; interactions” or “to come and go” but are used in different contexts – perhaps a commenter can enlighten me about the exact difference.

22. 感情 gǎnqíng & 情感 qínggǎn – Both mean “emotion” or “feeling”, but the former usually refers to a status, whilst the latter is usually implies one’s emotional reaction to someone or something, however there is a lot of overlap.

23. 年青 niánqīng (“young”) & 青年 qīngnián (“young people”)

24. 和平 hépíng (“peace” or “peaceful”) & 平和 pínghé (“gentle; calm”)

25. 统一 tǒngyī & 一统 yītǒng – Both can mean “unify”, “unified” or “unity” (usually in the sense of nation states) but 一统 yītǒng is more commonly used as a verb only.

26. 明天 míngtiān (“tomorrow”) & 天明 tiānmíng (“daybreak”)

27. 自私 zìsī (“selfish”) & 私自 sīzì (“secretly”)

28. 外国 wàiguó (“foreign country”) & 国外 guówài (“overseas”)

29. 法国 Fǎguó (“France”) & 国法 guófǎ (“national law”)

30. 大多 dàduō (“mostly”) & 多大 duōdà (“how big?” or “how old?”)

31. 照护 zhàohù (“look after”) & 护照 hùzhào (“passport”)

32. 人工 réngōng (“artificial”) & 工人 gōngrén (“worker”)

33. 国王 guówáng (“king”) & 王国 wángguó (“kingdom”)

34. 冰棒 bīngbàng & 棒冰 bàngbīng – Both mean “popsicle”, but the latter is more colloquial.

35. 变大 biàndà (“magnify”) & 大变 dàbiàn (“significant change” [formal])

36. 嫉妒 jídù & 妒嫉 dùjí – Both mean “jealous” and “to be jealous”.

37. 妒忌 dùjì & 忌妒 jìdu – Same as #36 but less common.

38. 风扇 fēngshàn (“fan” [electric]) & 扇风 shānfēng (“to fan”)

39. 积累 jīlěi & 累积 lěijī – Both mean “to accumulate”, but the former is more common.

40. 面对 miànduì (“to face”) & 对面 duìmiàn (“opposite” or “right in front”)

41. 互相 hùxiāng & 相互 xiānghù – Same meaning – “mutual” – interchangeable – former more common.

42. 去死 qùsǐ (“go to hell”) & 死去 sǐqù (“to pass away”)

43. 人妖 rényāo (“hermaphrodite”, usually pejorative) & 妖人 yāorén (uncertain, perhaps “evil sorcerer”; uncommon)

44. 风口 fēngkǒu (“drafty place”) & 口风 kǒufēng (“meaning behind words spoken”)

45. 大胆 dàdǎn & 胆大 dǎndà – Both mean “bold” or “courageous” but perhaps the former has a slightly more negative connotation.

46. 号称 hàochēng (“to be known as” or “to claim to be”) & 称号 chēnghào (“title; name”)

47. 痛苦 tòngkǔ (“painful” or “pain”) & 苦痛 kǔtòng (“pain”)

48. 后背 hòubèi (“back” [of someone]) & 背后 bèihòu (“behind” [of someone or something])

49. 上天 shàngtiān (“to go up to sky”, by extension, “to die”, or “heaven”) & 天上 tiānshàng (“sky”)

50. 水汽 shuǐqì (“vapour”, usually expressed as 水蒸气 shuǐzhēngqì) & 汽水 qìshuǐ (“soft drink”)

51. 出生 chūshēng (“to be born”) & 生出 shēngchū (“to give birth to” usually shortened to 生 shēng)

52. 心动 xīndòng (“heartbeat” or “to be emotionally stirred by something”) & 动心 dòngxīn (“to be moved” or “to be interested”)

53. 为难 wéinán (“to make it difficult for someone”) & 难为 nánwéi (“embarrassed” or “to find something difficult”)

54. 眩目 xuànmù (“dazzling”) & 目眩 mùxuàn (“dizzy”)

55. 感动 gǎndòng (“to be moved/touched”) & 动感 dònggǎn (“sense of movement”)

56. 论理 lùnlǐ (“to reason with logic”) & 理论 lǐlùn (“theory”)

57. 动机 dòngjī (“intentions”) & 机动 jīdòng (“motorised”)

58. 糖果 tángguǒ (“lolly; candy”) & 果糖 guǒtáng (“fructose”)

59. 性感 xìnggǎn (“sexy”) & 感性 gǎnxìng (“perception” or “emotionally-driven”)

60. 出售 chūshòu (“to offer for sale”) & 售出 shòuchū (“to sell [successfully]”)

61. 处长 chùzhǎng (“head of department”) & 长处 chángchu (“forte; a person’s good point”)

62. 力量 lìliang (“strength”) & 量力 liànglì (“to know one’s own ability”)

63. 牙刷 yáshuā (“toothbrush”) & 刷牙 shuāyá (“to brush one’s teeth”)

64. 办法 bànfǎ (“way; means”) & 法办 fǎbàn (“to deal with something according to the law” [formal])

65. 来历 láilì (“background”) & 历来 lìlái (“always; through the ages” [formal])

66. 文人wénrén (“scholar”) & 人文 rénwén (“humanities”)

67. 手动 shǒudòng (“manual”) & 动手 dòngshǒu (“to start”, “to touch” [in 动手动脚 dòngshǒu dòngjiǎo, “to be all over someone”) or “to start a fight”)

68. 好说 hǎoshuō (“OK”) & 说好 shuōhǎo (“to settle something [by talking it through]”)

69. 寻找 xúnzhǎo & 找寻 zhǎoxún – Both mean “to seek”; the latter is less common.

70. 喊叫 hǎnjiào & 叫喊 jiàohǎn – Both mean “to shout”; the latter is more common.

71. 演讲 yǎnjiǎng & 讲演 jiǎngyǎnBoth mean “speech” or “lecture” –  as a verb and as a noun – however the former is much more common in modern usage.

72. 会意 huìyì (“to understand/comprehend”) & 意会 yìhuì (“to sense”, commonly used in the phrase 只能意会不能言传 zhǐ néng yìhuì bùnéng yánchuán, “able to sense it, but not explain it”)

73. 发挥 fāhuī (“to bring into play” or “to develop”) & 挥发 huīfā (“to make volatile” [technical])

74. 法律 fǎlǜ (“law”) & 律法 lǜfǎ (“laws and decrees” [technical])

One interesting thing I’ve gained from this research is that many of the switch-around counterparts are similar in meaning but more technical/formal in register. One of my friends commented that these “high-level” words are typically used when the speaker/writer wants to sound more 装逼. I think I agree!

22 Comments to "74 Switch-Around Words in Mandarin"

  1. 25/11/2010 - 9:57 pm | Permalink

    I love it. Mind if I repost this, with a link and full credit, on my own blog?

  2. 26/11/2010 - 2:51 am | Permalink

    Great list on an interesting topic!
    Couple add-ons, sure there’s many more… 面汤 -汤面, 肉食 - 食肉,外场 -场外, 态势- 势态,部队 - 队部,下手 - 手下

  3. Caleigh's Gravatar Caleigh
    26/11/2010 - 3:18 am | Permalink

    Its very useful article. Thank you for sharing it.

  4. Baz's Gravatar Baz
    28/11/2010 - 1:33 am | Permalink

    Great stuff, very useful to know. 谢谢。

  5. 30/11/2010 - 3:25 am | Permalink

    Wow, this is a great list! Did you put it together yourself? I’ve thought about doing something like this before, but have always been too lazy. Well done!

  6. Joe's Gravatar Joe
    04/12/2010 - 1:24 am | Permalink

    do you have “人情“ and “情人” already? "human relations” vs “lover”?

  7. Joe's Gravatar Joe
    04/12/2010 - 1:35 am | Permalink

    火柴 – 柴火, matches – fire wood

  8. Joe's Gravatar Joe
    04/12/2010 - 1:50 am | Permalink

    计算 – 算计 calculate – blindside/sabotage/plan?

  9. Robert H's Gravatar Robert H
    05/12/2010 - 8:25 am | Permalink

    I quickly analyzed CC-CEDICT for such words. Assuming I did it correctly, I came up with 1259 of such words, though I did not go through them all to make sure I filtered out the less interesting ones.

  10. Jack's Gravatar Jack
    06/12/2010 - 3:01 pm | Permalink

    The worst — best? — kind of ‘switch around words’ that I’ve found are where the two characters, when switched around, have the same meaning (albeit, perhaps in Taiwan or fangyan). I guess this is just a smaller subset of the list you’ve done. eg:

    夜宵 = 宵夜
    地道 = 道地

  11. 07/12/2010 - 11:38 pm | Permalink

    Nice! Must have taken a while to put this together, bookmarked for future reference.

  12. 07/12/2010 - 11:47 pm | Permalink

    Another fantastic post. I love how practical your stuff is, and well-researched. Do you spend a lot of time looking this stuff up, or is it based on a lot of experience?

  13. Jean's Gravatar Jean
    28/12/2010 - 3:25 am | Permalink

    I just saw 敦伦 today, and first read it as 伦敦. Do proper names count in your list ?

  14. benjamin's Gravatar benjamin
    12/01/2011 - 2:32 am | Permalink

    过路 vs 路过. I’m not sure exactly how different these two are, actually. Nciku seems to basically give the same definition for both: “pass through / pass by.”

  15. 17/05/2011 - 6:25 pm | Permalink

    Another one – 笨拙 bènzhuō and 拙笨 zhuōbèn. They both mean “clumsy”, and the former is much more common.

  16. 06/09/2011 - 2:23 pm | Permalink

    One I found JUST the other day was 除去 & 去除 (Except& Remove respectively)!

  17. 06/09/2011 - 8:33 pm | Permalink

    I love it! I always mess up stuff like this (“Excuse me, do you sell bees in this store?”)

    What about fencing? 击剑 = ?剑击? I thought I red that somewhere once…no?

  18. 11/04/2013 - 9:04 pm | Permalink

    I never thought i will say it but i have one too: 事故 and 故事 😉

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