坏

壞
huài
HSK 3
#830 most
frequent character
bad, spoiled, broken, to break down
adjective
verb

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

坏 has 土 dirt as its meaning part and 不 as a sound part read huái, not bù. 不 is a graphical shortcut for 褱 huái in Simplified Chinese. It first meant to wreck or decay, then grew to go bad and break down.

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Example Sentences

这个苹果坏了。
zhègè píngguǒ huài le 。
This apple is spoiled.
他的电脑坏了。
tāde diànnǎo huài le 。
His computer is broken.
不要做坏事。
búyào zuò huàishì 。
Don't do bad things.

Grammar Points

HSK 5
Complement "-huai le"

Words with similar meanings

糟糕zāogāo
terrible
More intense, often used to express a greater degree of negativity.
差chà
poor
Can imply lower quality or performance, similar in context.

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Public Lists with 坏

Feelings & Emotions
Vocabulary for happiness, sadness, anger, fear, love, excitement, etc.
Common Adjectives
Descriptive words for size, quality, temperature, mood, and more.
HSK 3
All words for the HSK 3 test