改头换面 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• to change outwardly while remaining essentially the same (derog.)
• (Tw) (non-derogatory) to change considerably
• to undergo a transformation

Character by character

• 改gǎito alter, to change, to improve, to remodel
• 头tóuhead; chief, boss; first, top
• 换huànto change; to exchange, to swap, to trade
• 面miànface; surface, side; plane, dimension

Idioms sharing a character

• 一改故辙 yī gǎi gù zhé
• 幡然改图 fān rán gǎi tú
• 改弦易辙 gǎi xián yì zhé
• 改过自新 gǎi guò zì xīn
• 改邪归正 gǎi xié guī zhèng
• 朝令夕改 zhāo lìng xī gǎi
• 朝闻夕改 zhāo wén xī gǎi
• 朝过夕改 zhāo guò xī gǎi
• 死不改悔 sǐ bù gǎi huǐ
• 痛改前非 tòng gǎi qián fēi

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.