本末倒置

Chinese

		root or trunk of a tree and the branches; the fundamental and the incidental	to place upside down; to invert; to invert
simp. and trad. (本末倒置)		本末	倒置
Literally: “to invert root and branch”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): běnmòdàozhì

  (Zhuyin): ㄅㄣˇ ㄇㄛˋ ㄉㄠˋ ㄓˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): bun² mut⁶ dou² zi³

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: běnmòdàozhì
    • Zhuyin: ㄅㄣˇ ㄇㄛˋ ㄉㄠˋ ㄓˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: běnmòdàojhìh
    • Wade–Giles: pên³-mo⁴-tao⁴-chih⁴
    • Yale: běn-mwò-dàu-jr̀
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: beenmohdawjyh
    • Palladius: бэньмодаочжи (bɛnʹmodaočži)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pən²¹⁴⁻²¹ mu̯ɔ⁵¹⁻⁵³ tɑʊ̯⁵¹⁻⁵³ ʈ͡ʂʐ̩⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: bun² mut⁶ dou² zi³
    • Yale: bún muht dóu ji
    • Cantonese Pinyin: bun² mut⁹ dou² dzi³
    • Guangdong Romanization: bun² mud⁶ dou² ji³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /puːn³⁵ muːt̚² tou̯³⁵ t͡siː³³/

Idiom

本末倒置

1. putting the cart before the horse

Synonyms

• 本末顛倒／本末颠倒 (běnmòdiāndǎo)