Meanings
- historicalA vast economic and social plan lasting from 1958 to 1961 which aimed to use the Chinese population to rapidly transform the Communist China from a primarily agrarian economy by peasant farmers into a modern communist society through agriculturalization and industrialization, but failed disastrously (resulting in massive famine and the deaths of many millions of people).
Louti, in Hunan Province, Central China, is one of the numerous small industrial cities that have grown up since liberation, particularly since the big leap forward.
[1960, Survey of China Mainland Press, numbers 2308-2328, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 301 more example
In the early 1960s, following the collapse of Mao's Great Leap Forward, Liu and Chang, as party officials in the city of I-pin (120 miles south of Szechwan's capital, Chengtu), vigorously prosecuted those cadres under their jurisdiction who had shown less than wholehearted devotion to that campaign.
1971, Thomas Jay Matthews, “The Cultural Revolution in Szechwan”, in The Cultural Revolution in the Provinces, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 96 - A theoretical point in human evolution at which point complex tools, weapons, sculptures, etc. began to appear, supplanting previous primitive behaviour.
Origin
Calque from Chinese 大躍進／大跃进 (Dàyuèjìn). Coined by a People's Daily commentator in 1957.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 大躍進 /大跃进
- 大躍進 /大跃进 (Dàyuèjìn)Great Leap Forward (in China)
Czech Velký skok vpřed
- Velký skok vpředGreat Leap Forward (in China)
Dutch Grote Sprong Voorwaarts
- Grote Sprong VoorwaartsGreat Leap Forward (in China)
Finnish suuri harppaus
- suuri harppausGreat Leap Forward (in China)
French Grand Bond en avant
- Grand Bond en avantGreat Leap Forward (in China)
German Großer Sprung nach vorn
- Großer Sprung nach vornGreat Leap Forward (in China)
Hungarian nagy ugrás
- nagy ugrásGreat Leap Forward (in China)
Italian Grande balzo in avanti
- Grande balzo in avantiGreat Leap Forward (in China)
Japanese 大躍進政策, 大躍進
- 大躍進政策 (Daiyakushin-seisaku)Great Leap Forward (in China)
- 大躍進 (Daiyakushin)Great Leap Forward (in China)
Korean 대약진
- 대약진 (Daeyakjin)Great Leap Forward (in China)
Polish Wielki skok naprzód
- Wielki skok naprzódGreat Leap Forward (in China)
Portuguese Grande Salto Adiante
- Grande Salto AdianteGreat Leap Forward (in China)
Russian Большо́й скачо́к
- Большо́й скачо́к (Bolʹšój skačók)Great Leap Forward (in China)
Spanish Gran Salto Adelante
- Gran Salto AdelanteGreat Leap Forward (in China)
Swedish stora språnget
- stora språngetGreat Leap Forward (in China)
Ukrainian Вели́кий стрибо́к
- Вели́кий стрибо́к (Velýkyj strybók)Great Leap Forward (in China)
Vietnamese Đại nhảy vọt
- Đại nhảy vọtGreat Leap Forward (in China)
Cite this entry
Great Leap Forward. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Great%20Leap%20Forward
“Great Leap Forward.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Great%20Leap%20Forward. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Great Leap Forward,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Great%20Leap%20Forward.
Source: Great Leap Forward on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.