陰差陽錯

Chinese

		(of weather) overcast; Yin; feminine (of weather) overcast; Yin; feminine; moon; cloudy; negative (electric.); shady	differ from; short of; to lack differ from; short of; to lack; poor; send; a messenger; a mission; to commission; uneven; difference; discrepancy; to differ; error; to err; to make a mistake	positive (electric.); sun; male	mistake; error; blunder mistake; error; blunder; fault; cross; uneven; wrong
trad. (陰差陽錯)		陰	差	陽	錯
simp. (阴差阳错)		阴	差	阳	错
Literally: “both yin and yang are wrong”.

Etymology

Constructed from 陰陽／阴阳 (yīnyáng) and 差錯／差错 (chācuò).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yīnchāyángcuò

  (Zhuyin): ㄧㄣ ㄔㄚ ㄧㄤˊ ㄘㄨㄛˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): jam¹ caa¹ joeng⁴ co³

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yīnchāyángcuò
    • Zhuyin: ㄧㄣ ㄔㄚ ㄧㄤˊ ㄘㄨㄛˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yinchayángcuò
    • Wade–Giles: yin¹-chʻa¹-yang²-tsʻo⁴
    • Yale: yīn-chā-yáng-tswò
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: inchayangtsuoh
    • Palladius: иньчаянцо (inʹčajanco)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /in⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂʰä⁵⁵ jɑŋ³⁵ t͡sʰu̯ɔ⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: jam¹ caa¹ joeng⁴ co³
    • Yale: yām chā yèuhng cho
    • Cantonese Pinyin: jam¹ tsaa¹ joeng⁴ tso³
    • Guangdong Romanization: yem¹ ca¹ yêng⁴ co³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɐm⁵⁵ t͡sʰaː⁵⁵ jœːŋ²¹ t͡sʰɔː³³/

Idiom

陰差陽錯

1. an accident, mistake or event arising from many different unforeseen causes; a strange combination of circumstances; accidentally; serendipitously