好
hǎo
- Pinyin
- hǎo
- Pinyin (Plain)
- hao
- Tone
- 3
- Strokes
- 6
- Radical
- 女
- Readings
- hǎohaoTone: 3good; 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 personal pronoun) helloOrder: 0Primary
- Stroke Order Code
- Speed
- Stroke Order Data
- ["M 330 202 Q 361 175 399 134 Q 415 119 424 118 Q 433 118 439 128 Q 446 138 442 170 Q 435 206 361 247 L 319 270 Q 292 286 258 304 Q 237 314 240 335 Q 261 393 281 453 L 293 492 Q 317 568 337 644 Q 347 690 366 715 Q 379 737 373 750 Q 360 769 313 797 Q 294 810 276 801 Q 263 794 273 778 Q 303 733 247 486 L 236 442 Q 218 373 195 336 Q 185 314 206 296 Q 254 268 294 233 L 330 202 Z", "M 294 233 Q 287 226 281 217 Q 250 180 196 143 Q 183 134 165 124 Q 149 114 133 104 Q 120 95 131 92 Q 212 86 327 199 Q 328 200 330 202 L 361 247 Q 406 322 421 385 Q 449 488 463 510 Q 473 526 458 537 Q 416 576 387 569 Q 374 565 378 550 Q 387 531 387 507 L 385 481 Q 384 469 382 455 Q 375 376 319 270 L 294 233 Z", "M 387 507 Q 341 501 293 492 L 247 486 Q 183 479 115 468 Q 94 465 61 471 Q 48 471 45 462 Q 41 450 49 441 Q 68 422 96 400 Q 106 396 118 402 Q 190 436 236 442 L 281 453 Q 320 463 362 474 Q 372 478 385 481 C 414 489 417 511 387 507 Z", "M 671 521 Q 788 635 822 648 Q 843 655 835 672 Q 831 688 760 725 Q 739 735 716 725 Q 661 703 575 676 Q 553 669 498 669 Q 473 669 482 648 Q 491 635 511 623 Q 544 605 578 627 Q 597 636 691 676 Q 706 682 719 673 Q 732 664 726 649 Q 693 595 655 531 C 640 505 649 500 671 521 Z", "M 717 430 Q 702 497 671 521 L 655 531 Q 648 535 640 538 Q 618 547 608 540 Q 595 533 608 519 Q 645 491 653 444 Q 656 434 659 421 L 668 384 Q 701 204 658 103 Q 643 76 607 83 Q 576 89 548 94 Q 536 97 542 85 Q 546 78 564 65 Q 604 31 618 5 Q 628 -14 645 -11 Q 660 -10 687 17 Q 775 107 726 391 L 717 430 Z", "M 726 391 Q 783 397 947 397 Q 966 398 971 406 Q 977 416 960 430 Q 909 467 848 454 Q 793 445 717 430 L 659 421 Q 562 409 452 393 Q 431 392 447 375 Q 460 362 478 357 Q 497 351 514 356 Q 586 375 668 384 L 726 391 Z"]
- Meaning
- “好” most commonly means “good” or “fine,” and can describe people, things, or situations (e.g., good weather, a good person). It’s also used in many phrases to express being well or okay (like “I’m fine”) and sometimes to indicate readiness or agreement (similar to saying “OK”).
- Metadata
- Locale: enCached At: 5/9/2026, 2:28:50 AM
Usage
The character 好 is most commonly learned in its basic meaning “good” or “well.” As an adjective, it describes positive qualities of people and things: 好人 “good person,” 好电影 “good movie,” 身体不好 “(one’s) health is not good.” As an adverb, it appears in set phrases like 好吃 “tasty,” 好看 “good-looking; interesting to watch,” and 好听 “pleasant-sounding,” where 好 functions like “very” + “pleasant/good to ….” Beginners also quickly meet it in everyday greetings and responses: 你好 “hello,” 很好 “very good,” 好极了 “excellent,” or simply 好 to mean “OK; sure” when agreeing to a suggestion. Learners also encounter 好 as a verb meaning “to like” in the common pattern 好 + verb/phrase, such as 好吃懒做 “like eating and being lazy,” though this is less frequent at the beginner level than the adjective use. It frequently appears in grammar patterns expressing readiness or completion, like 准备好 “to be ready,” 做好作业 “to finish/complete one’s homework properly.” In spoken Mandarin, 好 is extremely flexible: it can soften commands (好好学习 “study hard; study properly”), intensify adjectives (好大 “so big”), and appear in many fixed expressions, making it one of the earliest and most frequently used characters in modern Chinese.
Handwriting Notes
「好」 in handwriting usually appears as a compact left-right structure: the 女 (“woman”) component on the left and the 子 (“child”) component on the right, forming a roughly rectangular block. Learners often notice that in everyday writing the lines are simpler and more fluid than in printed fonts: for example, angles are rounded, strokes may connect slightly, and proportions can shift so that 女 is written a bit narrower and taller, while 子 is slightly compressed to fit neatly on the right. The small stroke at the top of 子 can be short or almost merged into the following stroke, and the lower part of 女 might look less “open” than in printed typefaces. Handwritten forms vary with personal style, speed, and writing tool: with a pen or pencil, strokes are often straighter and thinner; with a brush, they can be more curved and dynamic. Some writers emphasize symmetry and keep the two components clearly separated, while others blend them more tightly, as long as the character remains recognizable as 女 + 子. Modern AI handwriting recognition systems are trained on many such handwriting styles—including neat, casual, and slightly messy writing—so they can accurately recognize 「好」 even when its proportions or stroke connections differ from the standard printed form.
Description
好 is a common Chinese character meaning “good,” “well,” or “to be fond of / to like,” depending on context. It is often used to describe positive quality (e.g., 好人 “good person,” 好吃 “tasty”) or agreement/readiness (e.g., 好了 “okay, ready”).