好說歹說

简 好说歹说 · 繁 好說歹說
Mandarin · pinyin hǎo shuō dǎi shuō

Meanings

  1. (idiom) to try one's very best to persuade sb; to reason with sb in every way possible
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Characters in this entry

好
hǎo · good, excellent, fine; well
說
shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
歹
dǎi · bad, vicious, depraved, wicked
说
shuō · speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–1–3–1 · hao3 shuo1 dai3 shuo1

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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.

好說歹說 · find source passages ↗ · 好说歹说 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hou2 syut3 daai2 syut3

Cantonese word readings for 好說歹說. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

好說歹說 · hao3 shuo1 dai3 shuo1
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 30,192
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record好說歹說 好说歹说 [hao3 shuo1 dai3 shuo1] /(idiom) to try one's very best to persuade sb; to reason with sb in every way possible/