HSK 6 · Emotions

活该 huógāi “serves (someone) right” in Chinese

Traditional 活該

What 活该 means

  1. serves (someone) right
  2. deservedly
  3. (coll.) serve sb right
  4. ought
  5. should

How to say 活该

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale活huó2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale该gāi1st tone, high and level

活该 in a sentence

  1. 我活该。

    Wǒ huógāi.

    It serves me right.

    Sentence #13825919 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 活该 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 活 (huó) with each of its parts in a different colour
活huóto live
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐMeaning part
  • 舌tongue · shéSound part

氵 hints at the meaning (water); 舌 (shé) hints at the sound. Compare it with huó.

The character 该 (gāi) with each of its parts in a different colour
该gāishould
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yánMeaning part
  • 亥part of the characterSound part

How to write 活该

活 9 strokes · 该 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 活该

Words with 活

活huó · to live活动huódòng · activity生活shēnghuó · to live活泼huópo · lively活跃huóyuè · active灵活línghuó · flexible干活儿gànhuór · to work快活kuàihuo · happy复活fùhuó · to come back to life活力huólì · vitality

Words with 该

该gāi · should应该yīnggāi · should

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

狠心hěnxīn · heartless后顾之忧hòugùzhīyōu · worries back home欢乐huānlè · joy悔恨huǐhèn · remorse焦急jiāojí · anxious嫉妒jídù · to be jealous of急功近利jígōngjìnlì · eager for quick results and profit计较jìjiào · to fuss over

FAQs

活该 (huógāi) means “serves (someone) right” or “deservedly”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it huógāi: huó with a 2nd tone, then gāi with a 1st 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, 活该 is written 活該. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type huogai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 活该 from the suggestions. Typing huogai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
活该 is an HSK 6 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.