好歹

Chinese

		good; well; be fond of	bad; wicked; evil
trad. (好歹)		好	歹
simp. #(好歹)		好	歹
alternative forms		好否 Hokkien

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): hǎodǎi

  (Zhuyin): ㄏㄠˇ ㄉㄞˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): hou² daai²
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): hó-pháiⁿ / hó-phái

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: hǎodǎi [Phonetic: háodǎi]
    • Zhuyin: ㄏㄠˇ ㄉㄞˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: hǎodǎi
    • Wade–Giles: hao³-tai³
    • Yale: hǎu-dǎi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: haodae
    • Palladius: хаодай (xaodaj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /xɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻³⁵ taɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: hou² daai²
    • Yale: hóu dáai
    • Cantonese Pinyin: hou² daai²
    • Guangdong Romanization: hou² dai²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /hou̯³⁵ taːi̯³⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hó-pháiⁿ
    • Tâi-lô: hó-pháinn
    • Phofsit Daibuun: hoyphvae
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /hɤ⁴¹⁻⁴⁴ pʰãi⁴¹/
    • IPA (Xiamen, Taipei): /ho⁵³⁻⁴⁴ pʰãi⁵³/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou, variant in Taiwan)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hó-phái
    • Tâi-lô: hó-phái
    • Phofsit Daibuun: hoyphae
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /hɤ⁴¹⁻⁴⁴ pʰai⁴¹/
    • IPA (Taipei): /ho⁵³⁻⁴⁴ pʰai⁵³/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /ho⁵⁵⁴⁻²⁴ pʰai⁵⁵⁴/

Noun

好歹

1. good and evil

   • 地也，你不分好歹何為地？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     地也，你不分好歹何为地？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 13^th to 14^th century, Guan Hanqing, The Injustice to Dou E

     Dì yě, nǐ bù fēn hǎodǎi hé wéi dì? [Pinyin]

     Mother Earth, what a Mother you are now that you cannot distinguish between good and evil?

2. mishap; misadventure; accident

   你要有個好歹，我還怎麼活啊！ [MSC, trad.]
   你要有个好歹，我还怎么活啊！ [MSC, simp.]

   Nǐ yào yǒu ge hǎodǎi, wǒ hái zěnme huó a! [Pinyin]

   How could I live should any mishap befall you!

Synonyms

• (good and bad):

• 善惡／善恶 (shàn'è)
• 好壞／好坏 (hǎohuài)
• 好䆀 (Zhangzhou Hokkien)
• 好賴／好赖 (hǎolài)
• 是非 (shìfēi)
• 臧否 (zāngpǐ) (literary)
• 長短／长短 (chángduǎn)
• 黑白 (hēibái) (figurative)

 

• (mishap):

• 不幸事件 (bùxìng shìjiàn)
• 不測／不测 (bùcè)
• 事故 (shìgù)
• 失閃／失闪 (shīshǎn)
• 岔子 (chàzi)
• 差池
• 差錯／差错 (chācuò)
• 意外 (yìwài)
• 故事 (archic)
• 緣故／缘故 (yuángù) (archaic)
• 變故／变故 (biàngù)
• 長短／长短 (chángduǎn)
• 閃失／闪失 (shǎnshī)

 

Derived terms

• 不分好歹
• 不知好歹 (bùzhīhǎodǎi)
• 不識好歹／不识好歹 (bùshíhǎodǎi)
• 有個好歹／有个好歹

 

Adverb

好歹

1. in any case; after all

   我好歹也是個國家金牌啊！ [MSC, trad.]
   我好歹也是个国家金牌啊！ [MSC, simp.]

   Wǒ hǎodǎi yě shì ge guójiā jīnpái a! [Pinyin]

   I'm a national gold medalist after all!

2. somehow; just; simply

Synonyms

• (in any case):

• 不管怎樣／不管怎样 (bùguǎnzěnyàng)
• 不管怎麼樣／不管怎么样 (bùguǎn zěnmeyàng)
• 反正
• 好賴／好赖 (hǎolài)
• 橫直／横直 (héngzhí) (dialectal)
• 橫豎／横竖 (héngshù)
• 橫豎橫／横竖横 (Northern Wu)
• 死活 (sǐhuó)
• 無論如何／无论如何 (wúlùnrúhé)
• 生死 (sen¹ si³) (Sichuanese)
• 紅黑／红黑 (hong² he²) (Sichuanese)
• 總之／总之 (zǒngzhī)
• 長短／长短 (chángduǎn) (literary)