(fǎn) - reverse, opposite; anti- in Mandarin
fǎnTraditional: 反
Translation
reverse, opposite; anti-
Word origin
A pictograph of a hand, 又, turning something back under a slope, 厂. The original sense is to turn over, from which come reverse, opposite and to rebel.
- Origin
- pictographic
- Root
- 厂 (slope) + 又 (hand)
Stroke order
反
Examples
。
You have put your jumper on the wrong way round.
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Please turn this sheet of paper over.
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The result was exactly the opposite of what I thought.
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The car was driven in the wrong direction.
，。
The more you tell him, the more he does the opposite.
反 (fǎn) is the idea of the other way round. As a resultative after a verb it says you did the action backwards: 穿反了 for a jumper inside out, 走反了 for the wrong direction, 反过来 for turning something over.
As a bound morpheme it is everywhere: 相反 for the opposite, 反对 for to oppose, 反面 for the reverse side, 反正 for anyway, and as a prefix it does the work of English anti-.
The trap is treating it like the free-standing English word opposite. 反 rarely stands alone as a full predicate; the opposite of something is 相反, and to be against a plan is 反对. Learn it as a piece that attaches, not a word you can drop in whole.
Where this fits
Used in
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反: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "反" (reverse, opposite; anti-): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 49.