Skip to content

转

zhuǎn

转: a steering wheel, a payment and the weather all turn

The picture You pivot from the way you were facing and end up pointed somewhere else. 回 brings what left back to its own place; 转 leaves it in place and only swings which way it faces.

Core verbs

Where the picture shows up in 转

  1. turn on the road

    前面路口往右转。

    qiánmiàn lùkǒu wǎng yòu zhuǎn

    Turn right at the next intersection.

    At the intersection the wheel comes round and the nose of the car ends up facing right.

  2. turn money toward someone

    我把钱转给你了。

    wǒ bǎ qián zhuǎn gěi nǐ le

    I've transferred the money to you.

    The number sitting in your account swings across and lands under someone else's name.

  3. turn a call to another line

    请帮我转接三号分机。

    qǐng bāng wǒ zhuǎn jiē sān hào fēnjī

    Could you put me through to extension 3?

    Receiver in hand, you swing the line over to another person's desk.

  4. the weather swings around

    天气转凉了。

    tiānqì zhuǎn liáng le

    It's turned chilly.

    The wind that was blowing warm swings around and starts hauling cold air in.

  5. a condition swings for the better

    他的病情好转了。

    tā de bìngqíng hǎo zhuǎn le

    The patient has taken a turn for the better.

    A line on the chart that was sloping down bends at one point and starts climbing.

    好转 is exactly 'turning from the bad side toward the good side'.

All of it in one picture

转 is leaving the thing where it is and changing only which way it faces. The car's nose swings right, the money in your account swings across to another name, the phone line swings over to another desk. Weather swinging cold is the same pivot, and so is 好转 — a patient turning from the bad side toward the good. So wherever 转 shows up, something is still where it was but is now pointed somewhere else.

Next

See all Chinese core images