Meaning of 坏
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- bad
- spoiled
- broken
- to break down
- (suffix) to the utmost
How to use 坏
坏 (huài) describes things that are bad, spoiled, or broken, and it often follows a verb to show a bad result, as in 弄坏 (nònghuài, to break something). After adjectives like 累 or 饿 it means "extremely." Example: 我的手机坏了。(Wǒ de shǒujī huài le.) My phone is broken.
坏 is made of 土 (tǔ, earth) on the left and 不 (bù, not) on the right. Picture ground that is no longer good, cracked earth that has gone bad.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 坏 with 怀 (huái, bosom; to cherish), which has the same right side but the heart radical 忄 and a second tone. Also remember that 坏 is fourth tone, huài, not huái.
坏 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
坏 huài · bad · 7 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 坏.
| 坏人 | huàirén | bad person; villain |
| 坏处 | huàichù | harm; troubles |
| 破坏 | pòhuài | destruction; damage |
| 坏事 | huàishì | bad thing; misdeed; to ruin things |
| 损坏 | sǔnhuài | to damage; to injure |
| 毁坏 | huǐhuài | to damage; to devastate |
| 好坏 | hǎohuài | good or bad; good and bad |
| 时好时坏 | shíhǎo-shíhuài | sometimes good, sometimes bad |
| 吓坏 | xiàhuài | to be terrified; to terrify sb |
| 坏蛋 | huàidàn | bad egg; scoundrel |
| 坏掉 | huàidiào | to get broken; to get damaged; to get ruined |
| 坏话 | huàihuà | disparaging remarks; unkind things said about sb |
Questions about 坏
What does 坏 mean?
坏 (huài) means "bad; spoiled" and is used as a adjective.
How do you write 坏?
坏 is made of 1 character: 坏 (7 strokes). That is 7 strokes in total.
Is 坏 an HSK word?
Yes. 坏 is on the HSK 1 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 坏 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 坏 is written 壞.
What does 累坏了 or 饿坏了 mean?
Here 坏 acts as a suffix meaning "to the utmost." 我累坏了 (Wǒ lèi huài le) means "I am completely exhausted," not that something broke.
Is 坏 the opposite of 好?
Yes, 坏 (huài) is the common opposite of 好 (hǎo) when talking about good and bad, as in 好人 and 坏人 (good person and bad person). For broken versus working objects, people also say 坏了 versus 好的.