万 变 不 离 其 宗

wàn biàn bù lí qí zōngdictionary entry

many superficial changes but no departure from the original stand (idiom) / plus ça change, plus ça reste la mème chose

Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-6f744e3ca806f5b1. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

萬變不離其宗 万变不离其宗 [wan4 bian4 bu4 li2 qi2 zong1] /many superficial changes but no departure from the original stand (idiom); plus ça change, plus ça reste la mème chose/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 萬變不離其宗

万
mò
used in 万俟[Mò qí]
wàn
ten thousand / a great number
Wàn
surname Wan
变
biàn
to change / to become different / to transform / to vary / rebellion
不
bù
no / not so / (bound form) not / un-
离
chī
mythical beast (archaic)
lí
to leave / to part from / to be away from / (in giving distances) from / without (sth) / independent of / one of the Eight Trigrams 八卦[bā guà], symbolizing fire / ☲
Lí
surname Li
其
qí
his / her / its / their / that / such / it (refers to sth preceding it)
宗
zōng
school / sect / purpose / model / ancestor / clan / to take as one's model (in academic or artistic work) / classifier for batches, items, cases (medical or legal), reservoirs
Zōng
surname Zong

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.