好
Meanings · hǎo
- good
- appropriate; proper
- all right!
- (before a verb) easy to
- (before a verb) good to
- (before an adjective for exclamatory effect) so
- (verb complement indicating completion)
- (of two people) close; on intimate terms
- (after a form of address) hello
Meanings · hào
- to be fond of; to have a tendency to; to be prone to
Characters in this entry
- 好
- hǎo · good, excellent, fine; well
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Mandarin tones
3 · hao3
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
Sentences in context
Exact source-spelling matches. Open the reader for dictionary lookups, construction notes and related examples. Occurrence does not establish a particular dictionary sense.
Read this spelling in Classical texts
Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 31 senses · 2 Cantonese readings
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
hou2 · hou3
Cantonese word readings for 好. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.
CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack
Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
character
- good; well
- Used as an interjection. — good; very well; nice
- Used as an interjection. — OK; alright
- Used as an interjection. — fine
- Used as an interjection. — (Hokkien) yes; yeah; aye
- Particle denoting agreement, support or wish to terminate a conversation.
- Particle denoting dissatisfaction in ironical sentences.
- (Hokkien) Particle denoting that the listener is still listening or is still interested with what the speaker is saying. (backchanneling cue)
- friendly; close; acquainted; kind
- (specifically) to start dating; to become romantic partners
- done; ready; finished; complete
- to be good to; easy to
- (making it) convenient; easy for
- (Hokkien) merit; benefit; advantage
- to recover from an illness; to heal; to get better
- very; quite; rather; so
- a pleasure to (do something); good for (doing something)
- (after a verb) properly; carefully
- Particle used after verbs to denote the completion or near-completion of an action.
- Used after a noun or pronoun as a greeting.
- greeting
- such; what
- (dialectal) can
- (Cantonese, Hakka) should
- (Southwestern Mandarin, Xiang) how (to what degree)
- (rail transport) cleared
character
- to be fond of; to like
- to have a tendency to; to be prone to; good to; easy to
- (dialectal Mandarin, Wu) can; to be able to
- (Teochew) to be willing to
- a surname
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack