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七転八倒 (しちてんばっとう) Japanese meaning | Kotomora

七しち転てん八ばっ倒とう

also: しってんばっとう

し

ち

て

ん

ば

っ

と

う

Freq.FrequencyTop 100,000

Meanings

1

noun, noun or participle which takes 'suru', intransitive verb

writhing in agony; tossing about in pain

yojijukugo (four-character idiom)

Yojijukugo describing someone rolling around in severe pain or distress. Often used with する to mean 'to writhe in agony'.

腹ふく痛つうで七しち転てん八倒ばっとうした。
I writhed in agony from a stomachache.
彼かれは苦くるしみのあまり七

しち

転てん

八倒ばっとう

し

て

いる

。

He is tossing about in great pain.

Written forms

七転八倒
- しちてんばっとう
  Standard kanji form for this yojijukugo.
- しってんばっとう
七顛八倒
rarely-used kanji form
- しちてんばっとう
  Rare variant using 顛 instead of 転.
- しってんばっとう
七顚八倒
rarely-used kanji form
- しちてんばっとう
  Rare variant using 顚 instead of 転.
- しってんばっとう
しってんばっとう
Alternate reading with gemination; also written in kana.

Kanji

七seven
転revolve, turn around, change
八eight, eight radical (no. 12)
倒

Similar words

のたうち回まわる
More colloquial and vivid; literally 'writhe and roll around', often used for physical agony or extreme emotional distress.
苦くるしむ
General verb for 'suffer' or 'be in pain', without the specific image of rolling around.

Etymology

Yojijukugo of Chinese origin, literally 'seven falls, eight tumbles', describing repeated falling and rolling in agony. The numbers seven and eight are used figuratively to indicate many times.

overthrow, fall, collapse

顛overturn, summit, origin

顚top, peak, summit