反而 (fǎn ér) means “on the contrary; instead”. It is an HSK 5 Chinese word in the HSK 3.0 vocabulary.
Practice each character:
他越解释,大家反而越糊涂了。
Tā yuè jiěshì, dàjiā fǎn'ér yuè hútu le.
The more he explained, the more confused everyone became instead.
Updated: 2026-05-27