本末倒置
běn​mò​dào​zhì

to put the cart before the horse

  • created sense approved 本末倒置 · běn​mò​dào​zhì · to put the cart before the horse — "Initial import from upstream dictionary"

    本末倒置

    běn​mò​dào​zhì

    to put the cart before the horse

    To invert the root and the branch; to focus on the minor details while neglecting the essentials or to confuse the cause and effect.

    本末 (literal) → 本末 · běn​mò · the fundamental and incidental 倒置 (literal) → 倒置 · dào​zhì · to reverse

    Changed: simplified, traditional, gloss, definition, pinyin, variant pinyin, variants, separable parts, decomposition

    created sense