翻天覆地

• 병음: fān tiān fù dì
• 한자 분석: 翻 = 番 + 羽 — to overturn/flip; 天 = 一 (one/sky) + 大 (great) — sky/heaven; 覆 = 覀 + 复 — to capsize/overturn; 地 = 土 (earth) + 也 (phonetic) — earth/ground

뜻

천지개벽할 만큼; 근본적으로 뒤바뀌다

A four-character idiom used to describe massive, transformative changes in society, technology, politics, or personal life. Carries a sense of dramatic scale and irreversibility. Frequently appears in journalistic and political commentary about modernisation and reform.

예문

1. 改革开放四十余年来，中国的经济社会面貌发生了翻天覆地的变化，数亿人口从贫困中脱离，城镇化率大幅提升。
2. 人工智能技术的迅猛崛起，正在以翻天覆地之势重塑全球制造业、金融业与信息产业的竞争格局。
3. 她离家求学的十年间，家乡经历了翻天覆地的改变，昔日泥泞的小道已被宽阔的柏油马路所取代。

사용 가이드

맥락: politics, society, technology, journalism

어조: emphatic

올바른 표현

• 工业革命使英国社会结构发生翻天覆地的变化。(The Industrial Revolution brought earth-shaking changes to Britain's social structure.)
• 对于那些亲历过文化大革命到改革开放全过程的老一辈人而言，中国社会在短短数十年间所经历的翻天覆地的巨变，至今仍令他们感到难以置信。(For the older generation who personally witnessed the entire journey from the Cultural Revolution to the Reform and Opening-up era, the earth-shattering transformation that Chinese society underwent in just a few decades still seems scarcely believable to them today.)

피해야 할 표현

• 翻天覆地的小变化 — the idiom inherently conveys massive scale, so pairing it with 小变化 (small changes) is a contradiction; use 显著变化 or 深刻变化 for moderate-scale changes instead

기원과 역사

翻天 (to overturn the sky) + 覆地 (to capsize the earth) — a hyperbolic expression for the most extreme possible transformation

문화적 배경

세대: All ages

사회적 배경: Universal