Chinese word

歪曲

Pronunciation

Pinyinwāi qū

Meaning

  • verbdistort

Example

他故意歪曲了事实。tā gù yì wāi qū liǎo shì shí

He deliberately distorted the facts.

Illustration for 歪曲 (distort)

More examples

媒体不应歪曲历史。méi tǐ bù yīng wāi qū lì shǐ

The media should not distort history.

Core concept

A clear line from reality to its description is forced off course.

Common phrases

  • 歪曲事实wāi qū shì shí

    distort the facts

  • 歪曲真相wāi qū zhēn xiàng

    distort the truth

  • 歪曲历史wāi qū lì shǐ

    distort history

Similar words

扭曲niǔ qū: Forcing facts or meanings away from their original form through a strong distortion.
曲解qū jiě: Taking words or writing to mean something different from their intended meaning.
篡改cuàn gǎi: Rewriting a document or record without permission so that its factual content changes.
捏造niē zào: Inventing nonexistent facts or evidence and treating the invention as genuine.

Definition in Chinese

故意或者由于错误把事实、言论等描述成与实际不符，使原意失真。gù yì huò zhě yóu yú cuò wù bǎ shì shí yán lùn děng miáo shù chéng yǔ shí jì bù fú shǐ yuán yì shī zhēn

Word origin

歪 (wāi, "crooked") + 曲 (qū, "bend") presents the word as bending a description away from the reality it should reflect.

Usage tips

  • English speakers may use "misunderstand" for any failure to understand, while this Chinese word often sounds like a criticism of the account that results.

Other meanings

  • misinterpretverb
  • twistverb

Opposites

Word lists with this word