见 风 转 舵

jiàn fēng zhuǎn duòdictionary entry

lit. see the wind and set the helm (idiom) / fig. to act pragmatically / to be flexible and take advantage of the situation

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-96658685449d8d6b. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

見風轉舵 见风转舵 [jian4 feng1 zhuan3 duo4] /lit. see the wind and set the helm (idiom); fig. to act pragmatically/to be flexible and take advantage of the situation/

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: 見風轉舵

见
jiàn
to see / to meet / to appear (to be sth) / to interview / opinion / view
xiàn
to appear / also written 現|现[xiàn]
风
fēng
wind / news / style / custom / manner / CL:陣|阵[zhèn],絲|丝[sī]
转
zhuǎi
see 轉文|转文[zhuǎi wén]
zhuǎn
to turn / to change direction / to transfer / to forward (mail) / (Internet) to share (sb else's content)
zhuàn
to revolve / to turn / to circle about / to walk about / classifier for revolutions (per minute etc): revs, rpm / classifier for repeated actions
舵
duò
helm / rudder

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.