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好不 (hǎo bù) — used before certain adjectives to indicate a high degree, equivalent to 'very' or 'extremely'

Definition

好不 is a fixed adverb placed before certain adjectives to mean 'very / quite' (e.g. 好不热闹 = very lively). Do not confuse it with 毫不 'not at all' — 毫不 negates, 好不 intensifies.

adverb
used before certain adjectives to indicate a high degree, equivalent to 'very' or 'extremely'

Examples

  • 好不。
    Jīn tiān jiē shàng hǎo bù rè nao.
    The street is very lively today.
  • ，好不。
    Tīng dào zhè ge xiāo xi, tā hǎo bù gāo xìng.
    Upon hearing this news, she was extremely happy.
  • 。
    Wǒ men hǎo bù róng yì cái zhǎo dào zhè jiā diàn.
    We had great difficulty finding this shop.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

好hǎovery
不bùnot

好 'very' intensifies 不 'not', yielding 'not at all' or, rhetorically, 'very'.

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 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The picture in 不 originally showed a flower’s calyx; the “no” sense came later from a related character, not from this picture.

Open 不 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6Comparison & Degree

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