HSK 4 · Verbs

只好 zhǐhǎo “to have no other option but to …” in Chinese

Said as zhíhǎo

Same in Traditional

What 只好 means

  1. to have no other option but to …
  2. to have to
  3. to be forced to

How to say 只好

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale只zhǐ3rd 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 zhíhǎo. 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

只好 in a sentence

  1. 昨天太冷了，我只好待在家里。

    Zuótiān tài lěng le, wǒ zhǐhǎo dāi zài jiā lǐ.

    It was so cold yesterday that I had to stay at home.

    Sentence #1423380 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我们的钱不够，所以我只好把订单取消了。

    Wǒmen de qián bú gòu, suǒyǐ wǒ zhǐhǎo bǎ dìngdān qǔxiāo le.

    We didn’t have enough money, so I had to cancel the order.

    Sentence #8870263 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 因为车子坏了，他们只好步行。

    Yīnwèi chēzi huài le, tāmen zhǐhǎo bùxíng.

    The car broke down, so they had to walk.

    Sentence #1945953 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

How 只好 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 只 (zhī) with each of its parts in a different colour
只zhǐonly; merely; just
  • 口mouth · kǒu
  • 八eight · bā

Memory aidA mouth 口 above two strokes 八. It is the simplified form of both 隻 (one bird) and 衹 (only).

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 只好

只 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.

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

Words related to 只好

Words with 只

只zhī · measure word for animals (a cat只有zhǐyǒu · only只能zhǐnéng · can only只是zhǐshì · only只要zhǐyào · if only

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: Common Verbs

允许yǔnxǔ · to permit增加zēngjiā · to raise照zhào · to shine整理zhěnglǐ · to arrange指zhǐ · finger转zhuǎn · to turn祝贺zhùhè · to congratulate赚zhuàn · to earn

FAQs

只好 (zhǐhǎo) means “to have no other option but to …” or “to have to”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it zhǐhǎo: zhǐ with a 3rd tone, then hǎo with a 3rd tone. In speech it sounds like zhíhǎo. 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.
Yes. 只好 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zhihao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 只好 from the suggestions. Typing zhihao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
只好 is an HSK 4 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.