本末顛倒 běnmòdiāndǎo to confuse the essential with the nonessential Origin Definitions Defs Strokes Stroke Words Sentences Sents 本末 běnmò the fundamental and incidental The root and the branch; the essential and the non-essential parts of a matter.颠倒 顛倒 diāndǎo verb to invert To turn upside down, reverse, or flip the original order or position of things; to put something back to front.