痛改前非 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• completely correcting one's former misdeeds ; to repent past mistakes and turn over a new leaf
• a reformed character

Character by character

• 痛tòngache, pain; bitterness, sorrow; deeply, thoroughly
• 改gǎito alter, to change, to improve, to remodel
• 前qiánin front, forward; former, preceding
• 非fēinot, negative, non-; to oppose

Idioms sharing a character

• 不痛不痒 bù tòng bù yǎng
• 创巨痛深 chuāng jù tòng shēn
• 悲痛欲绝 bēi tòng yù jué
• 深恶痛绝 shēn wù tòng jué
• 无关痛痒 wú guān tòng yǎng
• 痛定思痛 tòng dìng sī tòng
• 痛心疾首 tòng xīn jí shǒu
• 迎头痛击 yíng tóu tòng jī
• 头痛欲裂 tóu tòng yù liè
• 一改故辙 yī gǎi gù zhé

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