好赖 (hǎo lài) — good and bad, right and wrong

Definition

A fixed pair meaning 'good and bad / right and wrong' — used as a noun (e.g. 不分好赖 'can't tell right from wrong') in moral or evaluative contexts.

noun

good and badright and wrong

好赖。
Tā zhè me dà de rén hái bù fēn hǎo lài.
A person his age still can't tell good from bad.
好赖。
Zuò rén yào dǒng de hǎo lài.
A person should know right from wrong.
好赖。
Zhè jiàn shì de hǎo lài dà jiā xīn lǐ dōu qīng chǔ.
Everyone is clear about the good and bad of this matter.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéSide by side

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

好 and 赖, good and bad, stand together for right and wrong.

Characters in this word

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

女子好

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

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 賴; 赖 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

貝貝bèicowry

Sound part声符shēngfú

剌

剌là賴lài

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 賴 uses 貝 (a cowry) for profit and 剌 for the sound; the simplified 赖 is a shorthand.