HSK 4 · Function Words

最好 zuìhǎo “best” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 最好 means

  1. best
  2. had better
  3. it would be best to …

How to say 最好

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale最zuì4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale好hǎo3rd tone, dipping

最好 in a sentence

  1. 他是我最好的朋友。

    Tā shì wǒ zuìhǎo de péngyou.

    He is my best friend.

    Sentence #1132233 from Tatoeba

  2. 你累了，最好休息一下。

    Nǐ lèi le, zuìhǎo xiūxi yíxià.

    You’re tired, so you’d better have a rest.

    Sentence #1990255 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我最好现在去睡觉。

    Wǒ zuìhǎo xiànzài qù shuìjiào.

    I’d better go to bed now.

    Sentence #676528 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 最好 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 最 (zuì) with each of its parts in a different colour
最zuìto the highest degree; most …; -est
  • 日sun · rì
  • 取to take · qǔ
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 最好

最 12 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.

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

Words related to 最好

Words with 最

最zuì · most最后zuìhòu · last最近zuìjìn · recently最终zuìzhōng · final最初zuìchū · at first

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: Particles & Connectors

的de · possessive particle至少zhìshǎo · at least重新chóngxīn · again专门zhuānmén · specially准时zhǔnshí · on time座zuò · measure word for buildings左右zuǒyòu · about重chóng · again

FAQs

最好 (zuìhǎo) means “best” or “had better”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it zuìhǎo: zuì with a 4th tone, then hǎo with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 最好 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zuihao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 最好 from the suggestions. Typing zuihao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
最好 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.