







北辙南辕 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to act in a way that is contrary to one's goals or intentions”. To defeat one's own purpose. Literally, “cart heading north, shafts pointing south”.

Choose character parts and animate their colors, together or in stroke order
Open the tool →
Picture and word Bingo for your class
Open the tool →
Chinese and English fill-in vocabulary worksheets
Open the tool →
Printable tracing sheets with a QR learning companion
Open the tool →北辙南辕 (běi zhé nán yuán) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to act in a way that is contrary to one's goals or intentions”.
北辙南辕 is pronounced běi zhé nán yuán in Mandarin Chinese.
Literally, 北辙南辕 means “cart heading north, shafts pointing south”. It is used to mean “to act in a way that is contrary to one's goals or intentions”.
①想往南却驾车向北行驶。比喻行为和目的相反。②车子北往南来。喻人行无定迹。