好坏

• Pinyin: hǎo huài
• Hanzi breakdown: 好 = 女 + 子 (good); 坏 = 土 (earth) + 不 (not) — spoiled/bad

Meaning

Good and bad; quality; merits and faults. Refers to the overall quality or moral character of something.

Used to evaluate whether something or someone is good or bad in quality or character. Often appears in phrases like 不管好坏 (regardless of quality) or 分辨好坏 (distinguish good from bad). Also used to mean 'no matter what' in spoken Chinese.

Examples

1. 你要学会自己分辨事情的好坏，不能总靠别人判断。 You need to learn to tell right from wrong for yourself—you can’t always rely on others to judge for you.
2. 这批货物好坏参半，需要逐一检查。 The quality of this batch of goods is mixed; we need to inspect them one by one.
3. 不管结果好坏，我们都要坦然面对。 No matter how it turns out, we should face the result calmly.

Usage Guide

Context: evaluation, quality, decision-making

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 做事之前先想清楚好坏得失再行动。(Before acting, think through the pros and cons first.)
• 产品好坏直接影响品牌的口碑。(Product quality directly affects a brand's reputation.)

Don't Say

• 好坏 as a single adjective before a noun: 他是好坏人 — use 好人 or 坏人 for clear labelling instead

Origin & History

好 (good) + 坏 (bad) — coordinate compound covering both ends of the quality spectrum

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal