急转弯

• Pinyin: jí zhuǎn wān
• Hanzi breakdown: 急 = 心 + 及 (sudden); 转 = 车 + 专 (vehicle + focus — to turn); 弯 = 弓 + 亦 (bow + also — curve)

Meaning

A sharp turn; a sudden reversal of direction or policy. Literal: a sharp bend in a road. Figurative: an abrupt change in stance, strategy, or situation.

Used both literally (road/driving) and figuratively (policy, narrative, negotiations). The figurative sense is especially common in media and political commentary.

Examples

1. 山路上连续几个急转弯让司机格外谨慎。 Several sharp turns in a row on the mountain road made the driver extra cautious.
2. 谈判形势突然急转弯，双方陷入僵局。 The negotiations took a sudden turn, and both sides fell into a deadlock.
3. 剧情在最后一集来了个急转弯，令观众大感意外。 The plot took a sharp turn in the final episode, leaving viewers very surprised.

Usage Guide

Context: driving, politics, media, narrative

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 该国的外交政策在新政府上台后出现了明显的急转弯，由之前的多边合作路线迅速转向单边主义立场。(The country's foreign policy took a sharp turn after the new government took office, rapidly shifting from the previous multilateral cooperative approach to a unilateralist stance.)
• 这部悬疑小说的叙事在第三章经历了一次出人意料的急转弯，读者先前建立的所有推断都随之崩塌。(The narrative of this mystery novel undergoes an unexpected sharp turn in Chapter 3, causing all the inferences readers had previously constructed to collapse.)

Don't Say

• 突然的急转弯 — 急 already means 'sudden/sharp'; say simply 急转弯 without 突然的 to avoid redundancy

Origin & History

急 (sharp/sudden) + 转 (turn) + 弯 (curve/bend)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal