HSK 5 · Emotions

倒霉 dǎoméi “to have bad luck” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 倒霉 means

  1. to have bad luck
  2. to be out of luck

How to say 倒霉

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale倒dǎo3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale霉méi2nd tone, rising

倒霉 in a sentence

  1. 我真的很倒霉！

    Wǒ zhēn de hěn dǎoméi!

    I’m so unlucky!

    Sentence #819400 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 他倒霉极了。

    Tā dǎoméi jí le.

    He’s incredibly unlucky.

    Sentence #941385 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 倒霉 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 倒 (dǎo) with each of its parts in a different colour
倒dǎoto fall; to collapse
  • 亻person form of 人 · rénMeaning part
  • 到to go to · dàoSound part

亻 hints at the meaning (person); 到 (dào) hints at the sound. Compare it with dǎo.

The character 霉 (méi) with each of its parts in a different colour
霉méimould
  • 雨rain · yǔMeaning part
  • 每each · měiSound part

雨 hints at the meaning (rain); 每 (měi) hints at the sound. Compare it with méi.

How to write 倒霉

倒 10 strokes · 霉 15 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

倒霉 (dǎoméi) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 倒霉 (dǎoméi). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 倒霉

Words with 倒

倒dǎo · to fall摔倒shuāidǎo · to fall over颠倒diāndǎo · to turn upside down倒闭dǎobì · to go bankrupt

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

安慰ānwèi · to comfort表情biǎoqíng · (facial) expression惭愧cánkuì · ashamed操心cāoxīn · to worry about发愁fāchóu · to worry感激gǎnjī · to be grateful好奇hàoqí · inquisitive恨hèn · to hate

FAQs

倒霉 (dǎoméi) means “to have bad luck” or “to be out of luck”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it dǎoméi: dǎo with a 3rd tone, then méi with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 倒霉 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type daomei with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 倒霉 from the suggestions. Typing daomei into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
倒霉 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.