HSK 3 · Adjectives

坏 huài “bad” in Chinese

Traditional 壞

What 坏 means

  1. bad
  2. broken
  3. spoiled
  4. to break down
  5. (suffix) to the utmost

How to say 坏

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale坏huài4th tone, falling

坏 in a sentence

  1. 空调坏了。

    Kōngtiáo huài le.

    The air conditioner is broken.

    Sentence #7773214 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我有个坏消息。

    Wǒ yǒu ge huài xiāoxi.

    I’ve got some bad news.

    Sentence #2052242 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 这个苹果是坏的。

    Zhè ge píngguǒ shì huài de.

    This apple has gone bad.

    Sentence #784455 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 坏 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 坏 (huài) with each of its parts in a different colour
坏huàibad
  • 土earth · tǔMeaning part
  • 不no · bùSound part

土 hints at the meaning (earth); 不 (bù) hints at the sound. Compare it with huài.

How to write 坏

坏 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 坏

Words with 坏

破坏pòhuài · to destroy败坏bàihuài · to ruin损坏sǔnhuài · to damage

More words: Adjectives

短duǎn · short in length方便fāngbiàn · convenient干净gānjìng · clean更gèng · more极jí · an extreme简单jiǎndān · simple旧jiù · old可爱kě'ài · cute

FAQs

坏 (huài) means “bad” or “broken”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it huài: huài with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 坏 is written 壞. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type huai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 坏 from the suggestions. Typing huai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
坏 is an HSK 3 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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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.