好

好 (radical 38, 女+3, 6 strokes, cangjie input 女弓木 (VND), four-corner 4744₇, composition ⿰女子)

• 𠲡, 𭖝, 𭰕, 𬫓, 𫱪, 𪦟, 𫚻, 𭀿, 𡘏, 䒵, 孬, 𪥸, 恏, 𭁮, 𥁨, 𭒊, 𪀮, 𡤟

• KangXi: page 255, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 6053
• Dae Jaweon: page 518, character 12
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1028, character 1
• Unihan data for U+597D

Historical forms of the character 好
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意) : 女 (“woman”) + 子 (“child”).

The widely accepted meaning of this character is that the characters for "female" (女) and "child" (子) were put together to form a compound because it was good for a woman to have a child. Similarly, it has been proposed that the compound originally refers to the mutual affection between the mother and child, which then extended to mean "good". These theories are supported by the smaller 子 found in some oracle bones and bronze inscriptions.

However, broader interpretations of the second character 子 could lead to other theories. 子 could also mean "son", so it may have meant two children, a boy and a girl next to each other, which is a good fortune to have a boy and a girl. 子 could also mean "man", so it may have referred to the love between a man and a woman, which is good. Duan Yucai, in his annotated version of Shuowen, interpreted it as originally referring to the beauty of 女子 (nǚzǐ, “woman”). Lastly, it could mean that the "attitude" of a girl was considered good.

The two pronunciations are cognate – pronunciation 2 is the *-s suffixed form, or exoactive/putative of pronunciation 1, literally "to consider good". Compare 惡 (OC *qaːɡ, “bad; evil”) > 惡 (OC *qaːɡs, “to consider bad; to hate”).

This word has been compared with Proto-Sino-Tibetan *hu (“to raise; to rear; to nourish”): Proto-Lolo-Burmese *hu³, Abor-Miri u, Qiang (Mawo) χu, which is only attested in a limited number of languages. If this is correct, it may be related to 畜 (OC *l̥ʰuɡs, *l̥ʰuɡ, *hluɡ, “to raise; to rear; domesticated animal”). Alternatively, compare Tibetan མཁོ (mkho, “necessary, important”).

Cognate with Central Bai hux (“good”), which may be a loanword from Chinese.

好

1. good; well
   • Antonyms: 壞／坏 (huài)
   • 你好嗎？ / 你好吗？  ―  Nǐ hǎo ma?  ―  How are you?
   • 真是個好主意！ / 真是个好主意！  ―  Zhēn shì ge hǎo zhǔyì!  ―  That's a good idea!
2. Used as an interjection
   1. good; very well; nice
   2. OK; alright
   3. fine
3. nice; kind
   • 他們對我很好。 / 他们对我很好。  ―  Tāmen duì wǒ hěn hǎo.  ―  They are very kind to me.
4. friendly; close; acquainted
   • 好朋友  ―  hǎo péngyǒu  ―  good friend
5. to form a friendly or close relationship; to be friends; to be on good terms
6. (specifically) to start dating; to become romantic partners
   • 他倆好上了。 / 他俩好上了。  ―  Tā liǎ hǎo shàng le.  ―  (please add an English translation of this example)
7. done; ready
   • 我就要好了。  ―  Wǒ jiù yào hǎo le.  ―  I'll be ready very soon.
8. to be good to; easy to
   • 這水龍頭好擰。 / 这水龙头好拧。  ―  Zhè shuǐlóngtóu hǎo nǐng.  ―  This tap turns easily.
9. (making it) convenient; easy for

   • 把東西收拾乾淨，我好打掃房間。 [MSC, trad.]
     把东西收拾干净，我好打扫房间。 [MSC, simp.]

     Bǎ dōngxī shōushí qiánjìng, wǒ hǎo dǎsǎo fángjiān. [Pinyin]

     Put stuff away so that I can clean the room.

   • 他們用鏡子反射陽光，好讓救援飛機發現。 [MSC, trad.]
     他们用镜子反射阳光，好让救援飞机发现。 [MSC, simp.]

     Tāmen yòng jìngzǐ fǎnshè yángguāng, hǎo ràng jiùyuán fēijī fāxiàn. [Pinyin]

     They used a mirror to reflect sunlight and help the search-and-rescue aircraft find them.

10. so that
11. to recover from an illness

    • 佢病咗幾個月都仲未好。 [Cantonese, trad.]
      佢病咗几个月都仲未好。 [Cantonese, simp.]

      Keoi⁵ beng⁶ zo² gei² go³ jyut⁶ dou¹ zung⁶ mei⁶ hou². [Jyutping]

      He's been sick for several months and still hasn't recovered.

    • 好返 [Cantonese]  ―  hou² faan¹ [Jyutping]  ―  to get better; to recover; to heal
12. (somewhat dialectal) very; quite; rather; so
    • 我好興奮啊！ / 我好兴奋啊！  ―  Wǒ hǎo xìngfèn a!  ―  I'm so excited!
    • 好幾天 / 好几天  ―  hǎo jǐ tiān  ―  quite a few days

    • 我個中文老師好好人㗎！ [Guangzhou Cantonese, trad.]
      我个中文老师好好人㗎！ [Guangzhou Cantonese, simp.]

      Ngo⁵ go³ zung¹ man^4-2 lou⁵ si¹ hou² hou² jan⁴ gaa³! [Jyutping]

      My Chinese teacher is a very nice person!

13. a pleasure to VERB

    好吃  ―  hǎochī  ―  delicious

    • 好用  ―  hǎoyòng  ―  a joy to use
    • 好聽 / 好听  ―  hǎotīng  ―  pleasant-sounding
14. properly; carefully

    記得帶好雨具！ / 记得带好雨具！  ―  Jìdé dài hǎo yǔjù!  ―  Remember to bring along rain gear! / Make sure your rain gear is on you!

    聽好了！ / 听好了！  ―  Tīng hǎo le!  ―  Now listen carefully!

15. Particle used after verbs to denote the completion or near-completion of an action.

    作業做好了嗎？ / 作业做好了吗？  ―  Zuòyè zuò hǎo le ma?  ―  Have you finished your homework?

16. Used after a noun or pronoun as a greeting.

    你好  ―  nǐ hǎo  ―  hello

    大家好  ―  dàjiā hǎo  ―  hello, everyone

    老師好 / 老师好  ―  lǎoshī hǎo  ―  hello, teacher

17. greeting

    問好 / 问好  ―  wènhǎo  ―  (please add an English translation of this example)

    替我給你媽帶個好兒。 [MSC, trad.]
    替我给你妈带个好儿。 [MSC, simp.]

    Tì wǒ gěi nǐ mā dài ge hǎor. [Pinyin]

    (please add an English translation of this example)

18. Particle denoting agreement, support or wish to terminate a conversation.
19. Particle denoting dissatisfaction in ironical sentences.
20. such; what

    • 好一朵美麗的茉莉花。 [MSC, trad.]
      好一朵美丽的茉莉花。 [MSC, simp.]

      Hǎo yī duǒ měilì de mòlìhuā. [Pinyin]

      What a beautiful jasmine.

• (very):

Others:

• → Vietnamese: hẩu (“kind, good, delicious”)

好

1. to be fond of; to like

   好學不倦 / 好学不倦  ―  hàoxuébùjuàn  ―  to like to learn without feeling tired

   餃子多香啊！我就好這麼一口兒！ [dialectal Mandarin, trad.]
   饺子多香啊！我就好这么一口儿！ [dialectal Mandarin, simp.]

   Jiǎozi duō xiāng a! Wǒ jiù hào zhènme yī kǒur! [Pinyin]

   The dumplings smell so delicious! I indeed like this!

2. to have a tendency to; to be prone to; good to; easy to
3. (dialectal Mandarin, Wu) can; to be able to
   • ⇒ 會, 可以

   • 儂好流利個講上海話𠲎？ [Shanghainese, trad.]
     侬好流利个讲上海话𠲎？ [Shanghainese, simp.]

     Can you speak Shanghainese fluently?

• “Entry #2282”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (in Chinese and Min Nan), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2011.
• “好”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database), 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. fondness; what one likes

• Go-on: こう (kō, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: こう (kō, Jōyō)
• Kun: すく (suku, 好く, Jōyō); このむ (konomu, 好む, Jōyō); このみ (konomi); よい (yoi, 好い); よし (yoshi); よしみ (yoshimi, 好); すめよい (sumeyoi); すめよし (sumeyoshi); よろし (yoroshi); よろしい (yoroshii)

好 (hiragana よしみ, rōmaji Yoshimi)

1. A male given name

好 • (ho) (hangeul 호, revised ho, McCune–Reischauer ho)

1. to like

好: Hán Việt readings: hiếu (呼(hô)到(đáo)切(thiết))[1][2][3], hảo (呼(hô)晧(hạo)切(thiết))[1][2][3]
好: Nôm readings: hiếu[1][2][4], háu[1][3][4], háo[1][3], hảo[2][4], hẩu[1][3], hấu[3], hão[4], hếu[4]

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.