Welcome to ChineseFrequencyDictionary.com. Enter a Chinese character or compound Chinese word to lookup. If a valid dictionary entry is found, frequency information will be shown below:

Chinese Character/Word:

Definition(s) for: 南辕北辙

Hanzi Pinyin Definition(s)
南辕北辙 nán yuán běi zhé - to act in a way that defeats one's purpose (idiom)

List Ranking:

Where rank 1 is most common, and higher numbers are less common.

HSK 2 Level (2012) HSK 3 Band (2022) SUBTLEX-CH BeijingUni Global BeijingUni Weibo
- - 49,692 50,914 44,184

Individual Character Breakdown:

Simp Pinyin Eng
nán- surname Nan
- used in 南無|南无[na1mo2]
- Taiwan pr. [na2]
nán- south
yuán- shafts of cart
- yamen
běi- north
- (classical) to be defeated
zhé- rut; track of a wheel (Taiwan pr. [che4])
- (coll.) the direction of traffic
- a rhyme (of a song, poem etc)
- (dialect) (usu. after 有[you3] or 沒|没[mei2]) way; idea

Other Words Containing 南辕北辙

Sorted by the 'SUBTLEX-CH' rank because that seems like the most reliable. Words without a SUBTLEX-CH rank are ignored for being too rare.

Word HSK 2 Level (2012) HSK 3 Band (2022) SUBTLEX-CH BeijingUni Global BeijingUni Weibo
南辕北辙 - - 49,692 50,914 44,184