倒打一耙
dào dǎ yī pá
to turn the tables on one’s accuser; to blame the victim
Character by character
倒dào
backwards
backwards
打dǎ
strike
strike
一yī
one
one
耙pá
rake
rake
Example
明明是他追尾了我，却倒打一耙，说是我倒车撞了他。
He clearly ran into the back of me, yet he turned it round and claimed I had reversed into him.
Tone: negative (criticism).
Usage and origin
耙 (pá) is a rake. The picture, often traced to the rake-wielding Zhu Bajie (猪八戒) of Journey to the West, is of pretending to flee, then turning to swing the rake at the person chasing you: instead of admitting a fault, you accuse the other side of it. Strongly critical: 他不但不道歉，还倒打一耙.
Learn this in Lesson 142 · HSK 7–9: 追尾以后 (After a bump)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
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