‘倒嚼’ refers to the biological process of rumination—when certain herbivorous mammals, such as cows, sheep, and goats, regurgitate partially digested food from their stomachs back into their mouths to chew it again. The character 倒 (dào) here means ‘to reverse’ or ‘to bring back,’ while 嚼 (jiáo) means ‘to chew.’ Together, they literally convey ‘chewing backward’ or ‘re-chewing,’ capturing the cyclical nature of this digestive behavior.

This term is used almost exclusively in veterinary, agricultural, or biological contexts—not in everyday conversation—and appears mainly in scientific descriptions, farming manuals, or biology textbooks. It is not applied metaphorically or to humans; using it outside zoological contexts would sound unnatural or humorous. While the characters individually have other pronunciations (e.g., 倒 can also be dǎo), in this compound, both characters are pronounced with their fourth-tone readings: dào jiáo.