How to Write 坏 (huài) — Meaning “Bad; broken; spoiled.”

Imagine the left side 土 as a patch of ground and the right side 不 as a big 'X' mark on it. This 'X' means 'no good' – so the ground is bad, helping you remember that 坏 means 'bad' or 'broken.'

Write the left radical 土 first (horizontal, vertical, horizontal), then the right part 不 (horizontal, left-falling, vertical, dot). A common mistake is to write a right-falling stroke instead of a dot at the end of 不 – make sure it’s a small dot. Also keep the left side narrow and the right side wider.

坏 is a left-right structure (土 + 不), while 圣 is a top-bottom structure (又 on top of 土) and means 'holy' – very different meaning. 圤 is rare and has 卜 (divination) on the right, not 不, and means 'tomb.' The key visual difference is the right side: 不 has many strokes, 卜 has only a vertical line and a dot.

坏 is very common – you use it to describe bad people (坏人), broken things (手机坏了 – the phone is broken), or bad habits (坏习惯). It also works as an exclamation: 坏了! means 'Oh no!' when something goes wrong, like spilling water. It's an HSK 1 character, so you'll see it often.

Common words containing 坏 include: 坏人 (huài rén) — Bad person; villain.; 坏了 (huài le) — Broken; spoiled; Oh no!; 坏习惯 (huài xí guàn) — Bad habit..