好 (hǎo) is a Chinese character meaning “good”. It is written from 女 (woman; female) and 子 (child; son), side by side, and takes 6 strokes. It has a second reading, hào, which turns up in 爱好 — here the two readings are two separate things to learn, not one card with two answers.
Build the character for “good”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
女 + 子
Left–right structure
Structure from: 说文解字: 好，美也。从女子
Memory aid
A woman (女) beside her child (子). Both parts are really in this character — and together they say: this is good.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
6 strokes
In real words
- 你好nǐ hǎohello好 = hǎospoken asní hǎoHSK 1
- 好人hǎo réna good person好 = hǎo
Go deeper
All readings
good
good; well; fine; proper; easy to; very
优点多的、令人满意的。也用在动词前，表示容易做或程度深。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 你好nǐ hǎohello好 = hǎospoken asní hǎoHSK 1
- 好人hǎo réna good person好 = hǎo
to be fond of
to be fond of; to be keen on; to have a tendency to
喜爱；喜欢。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 爱好ài hàohobby; to be keen on好 = hàoHSK 3
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 好 mean?
好 (hǎo) means good; well; fine; proper; easy to; very.
How do you pronounce 好?
Its main reading is hǎo. It also has a second reading, hào, which only shows up in certain words such as 爱好 — so the word tells you the reading, not the character on its own.
Why is 好 sometimes pronounced hào?
Because it is a multi-reading character: each reading carries a different sense, and the word decides which one applies. In 爱好 it is read hào.
What parts is 好 made of?
女 (woman; female) and 子 (child; son), side by side. This breakdown was checked by a human (source: 说文解字: 好，美也。从女子). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 好 have?
6. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 好?
女. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 好?
Common ones are 你好 and 好人. The reading of 好 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.