# Pronunciation: 倒



## yuechu

大家好！

I was recently reading the novel 北京青年 and came across the following paragraph:

“慢着慢着，”何北说，“我现在一听你用这口气说话就紧张”，说着捂着胸口慢慢往下倒，“何西，我心脏不跳了…。”
What does 倒 mean here? Also, is it pronounced dao3 or dao4?
Thanks!


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## zhg

dao3 倒地的意思,可以从后面一句看出来。In my opinion,hebei didn't mean what he had said. Hebei played a joke on heixi, whose way of talking made hebei feel nervous. 何北并不是真的心脏不跳了，而是开个何西一个玩笑。


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## yuechu

Thanks, zhg!


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## SuperXW

dao3: to fall, to collapse 往下倒
dao3: (colloquial) to change, to switch 倒班(to shift work), 倒车(to change a bus or train)
dao4: reverse, invert, move backward 颠倒, 倒车 -> "but": 反倒
dao4: pour, tip 倒水, 倒出来

Note both 倒dao3车 and 倒dao4车 exist with different meanings.

Even some native speaks may mess up the two tones, especially for words like 颠倒, as the action of "reverse, invert" is often too similar to "to switch (side)", or "to pour out (turn the container upside-down)".


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## yuechu

Thanks for your reply, SuperXW! I understand it a lot better now


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## Skatinginbc

SuperXW said:


> dao4: reverse, invert, move backward 颠倒


I think 倒 dao3 in 颠倒 dian1 dao3 means 傾覆 "collapse, upset, turn over" as in 倒心, 倒胃口, 倒亂 and 不倒翁. 颠 does not mean "to reverse, to move backward".  颠倒 is a synonymous compound in which 颠 is a synonym of 倒 dao3.

By the way, I think there is a tendency for 倒 dao4 'reverse' to precede rather than to follow the main verb, and 著 can usually (not always) be inserted, for example, 倒(著)看, 倒(著)走, describing a condition or state like 光著屁股, 笑著說話.


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## yuechu

I was looking up "to back up" in the Wordreference dictionary today and it says that it is 倒 dǎo. I think that this is a mistake, right? It should be dào for this meaning, right?


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## Skatinginbc

You are right.  It is an error. 
倒 dào: 向後退 (to reverse, to move or drive backwards)。如：「倒4車」、「倒4退」


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## yuechu

Thanks, Skatinginbc!


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## SuperXW

Skatinginbc said:


> I think 倒 dao3 in 颠倒 dian1 dao3 means 傾覆 "collapse, upset, turn over" as in 倒心, 倒胃口, 倒亂 and 不倒翁. 颠 does not mean "to reverse, to move backward".  颠倒 is a synonymous compound in which 颠 is a synonym of 倒 dao3.


I don't know. Some people say 颠倒dao4, some say 颠倒dao3.
I prefer dao4, as I would understand it "upset down" rather than "collapse"
_(：з」∠)_ 

By the way, what is 倒乱? Same to 捣乱 or not?


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## SimonTsai

Skatinginbc said:


> as in 倒心, 倒胃口, 倒亂 and 不倒翁.


'倒心' is a word I have never learnt of. I have to look it up to know what it means. (It is said to be synonymous with '傾心'; for example, '妖歌慢舞爛不收, 倒心迴腸為青眸.')

'倒亂' is also a new word to me. It is said to be an equivalent of '搗亂', which I know. I am unsure of the etymological relationship between the two, and would love to know, but that's a different topic.


> I think 倒 dao3 in 颠倒 dian1 dao3 means 傾覆 [...] 颠 is a synonym of 倒 dao3.


The official dictionary prescribes the fourth tone for '倒' in the sense of switching opposing elements, e.g., the right and the wrong, the centre and the periphery, and the top and the bottom. See the quote below:

東方未明，顛【倒】衣裳。顛之【倒】之，自公召之。​東方未晞，顛【倒】裳衣。【倒】之顛之，自公令之。 (詩經)​
Accordingly, we should have pronounced the '倒' in '顛倒' with the fourth tone instead. But interestingly, the dictionary prescribes the third tone for the character in the entry '顛倒是非'.


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## Skatinginbc

Skatinginbc said:


> I think 倒 dao3 in 颠倒 dian1 dao3 means 傾覆 "collapse, upset"



I meant what I said: 倒 dao3 in 顛倒 dian1 dao3 means "to collapse, upset".
(1) to collapse (垮臺、坍塌、倒塌):《教育部重編國語辭典修訂本.*顛倒3*》破滅、傾覆。《詩經．陳風．墓門》：「訊予不顧，顛倒3思予。」==> 國家顛覆倒3垮了，才想起我的話。
(2) to upset (破壞、擾亂):《教育部重編國語辭典修訂本.*顛倒3*》 心神離亂。《儒林外史》第五回：「新年不出去拜節，在家哽哽咽咽，不時哭泣，精神顛倒，恍惚不寧。」==> "顛倒3" 的 "顛" (發狂) 通「癲」, "倒3" 是 "癲癲倒3倒3" 的 "倒3" (混亂失常), 不是歐陽峰逆練九陰真經的神經 "顛倒4" (顛, 逆也, 倒4, 反也).

《教育部重編國語辭典修訂本.*倒3亂*》以不好的手段或無理的行動，來擾亂秩序，或破壞別人正在進行的事情。《老殘遊記》第一五回：「總是你瞎倒亂，平白的把翠環的一卷行李也燒在裡頭。」也作「搗亂」。==> "倒3" 指 "破壞、擾亂".


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