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好坏 (hǎo huài) — good and bad, right and wrong

Definition

noun
good and badright and wrong

Examples

  • 好坏。
    Nǐ yào xué huì fēn biàn hǎo huài.
    You need to learn to tell good from bad.
  • 好坏。
    Zhè jiàn shì de hǎo huài dà jiā xīn lǐ dōu qīng chǔ.
    Everyone knows in their heart the pros and cons of this matter.
  • 好坏。
    Pàn duàn yí gè rén bù néng zhī kàn biǎo miàn de hǎo huài.
    When judging a person, you can't just look at surface-level good and bad.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

好hǎogood
坏huàibad

好 good and 坏 bad stand side by side, naming both outcomes.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

好 joins 女 (woman) and 子 (child), understood as a woman with a child, linked to goodness or affection.

Open 好 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 壞; 坏 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
土土tǔearth
Sound part声符shēngfú
褱
褱huái壞huài
Same sound today

For the traditional form 壞, 土 (earth) is the meaning part and 褱 supplies the sound; earth is used because something that rots eventually becomes earth. This is about 壞, not the simplified 坏.

Open 坏 →
Appears in
Good & Bad

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