HSK 6 · Verbs

讨好 tǎohǎo “to please” in Chinese

Said as táohǎo

Traditional 討好

What 讨好 means

  1. to please
  2. to curry favour
  3. to get the desired outcome
  4. to win favour by fawning on sb
  5. to curry favour with
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • a fruitful outcome to reward one’s labour

How to say 讨好

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale讨tǎo3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale好hǎo3rd tone, dipping

Said as táohǎo. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. How tone changes work

讨好 in a sentence

  1. 他竭尽全力地讨好他老婆。

    Tā jiéjìnquánlì de tǎohǎo tā lǎopo.

    He did everything he could to please his wife.

    Sentence #2516527 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 那人很会讨好老板。

    Nà rén hěn huì tǎohǎo lǎobǎn.

    That man really knows how to keep on the boss’s good side.

    Sentence #392322 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 讨好 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 讨 (tǎo) with each of its parts in a different colour
讨tǎoto invite
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yán
  • 寸inch · cùn
The character 好 (hǎo) with each of its parts in a different colour
好hǎogood
  • 女woman · nǚ
  • 子child · zǐ

Memory aidA woman 女 with her child 子: something good.

How to write 讨好

讨 5 strokes · 好 6 strokes

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

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

Words related to 讨好

Words with 讨

讨论tǎolùn · to discuss讨厌tǎoyàn · to dislike讨价还价tǎojiàhuánjià · to bargain检讨jiǎntǎo · self-criticism探讨tàntǎo · to discuss

Words with 好

好hǎo · good你好nǐ hǎo · hello好看hǎokàn · good-looking好听hǎotīng · pleasant to hear好玩儿hǎowánr · amusing好吃hǎochī · delicious不好意思bùhǎoyìsi · to feel embarrassed爱好àihào · hobby好多hǎoduō · a lot of好久hǎojiǔ · a long time

More words: Thinking & Talking

算数suànshù · to count (be valid)索取suǒqǔ · to ask for探索tànsuǒ · to explore探讨tàntǎo · to discuss滔滔不绝tāotāobùjué · to talk non-stop挑拨tiǎobō · to stir up trouble提示tíshì · to prompt提议tíyì · to propose

FAQs

讨好 (tǎohǎo) means “to please” or “to curry favour”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it tǎohǎo: tǎo with a 3rd tone, then hǎo with a 3rd tone. In speech it sounds like táohǎo. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. 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, 讨好 is written 討好. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type taohao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 讨好 from the suggestions. Typing taohao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
讨好 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.