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反水

fǎnshuǐ
verb

Meanings

  1. 1 to defect; to switch sides
  2. 2 to turn traitor
  3. 3 (e-commerce) cashback; rebate paid back to the buyer

Examples

他在最后关头反水,让对手赢了。
Tā zài zuìhòu guāntóu fǎnshuǐ, ràng duìshǒu yíng le.
He turned coat at the last moment and let the rivals win.
这个平台买东西可以反水。
Zhège píngtái mǎi dōngxi kěyǐ fǎnshuǐ.
Buying through this platform earns you cashback.

Tips

usage
Per CC-CEDICT: 'to turn traitor; to defect.' Originally 江湖/triad slang for switching gang allegiance. Modern senses: in fan circles or politics, the 'defection' meaning dominates (a fan who 反水 to a rival camp); in e-commerce affiliate marketing, 反水 means cashback paid back to the buyer when they purchase via your link — a riff on 'water flowing back.'
memory
Picture water (水) reversing direction (反): money flowing back to you (cashback), or loyalty flowing back to the other side (defection). One verb, two flow reversals.

Stroke Order

反 fǎn
水 shuǐ