本末倒置 — Chinese idiom
本末倒置
běn mò dào zhì
Meaning
- lit. to invert root and branch ; fig. confusing cause and effect
- to stress the incidental over the fundamental
- to put the cart before the horse
Character by character
- 本běnroot, origin, source; basis
- 末mòend, final, last; insignificant
- 倒dàoto collapse, to fall over; to lie down
- 置zhìto lay out, to place, to set aside
Idioms sharing a character
- 一本正经 yī běn zhèng jīng
- 一本万利 yī běn wàn lì
- 报本反始 bào běn fǎn shǐ
- 慈悲为本 cí bēi wéi běn
- 舍本逐末 shě běn zhú mò
- 本来面目 běn lái miàn mù
- 本性难移 běn xìng nán yí
- 看家本领 kān jiā běn lǐng
- 血本无归 xuè běn wú guī
- 变本加厉 biàn běn jiā lì
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.