Dictionary › 好歹

好歹

hǎo dǎi

HSK 3.0 level 7-9 2-character word

好歹 (hǎo dǎi) means "good and bad; most unfortunate occurrence; in any case". It is an HSK 3.0 level 7-9 word, and was not on the old six-level HSK list.

What 好歹 means

1. good and bad
2. most unfortunate occurrence
3. in any case
4. whatever

The characters in 好歹

• 好hǎogood; appropriate; proper; all right!
• 歹dǎibad; wicked; evil

Example sentences

• 这个小孩不知好歹。
  Zhège xiǎohái bùzhīhǎodǎi.
  This child don't know what's coming for him.

Words containing 好歹

• 不知好歹bù zhī hǎo dǎiunable to differentiate good from bad (idiom); not to know what's good for one…
• 不识好歹bù shí hǎo dǎiunable to tell good from bad (idiom); undiscriminating

Go deeper

• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read hǎo dǎi correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.