Chinese word

活该

Pronunciation

Pinyinhuó gāi

Meaning

  • adjectivedeserve it

Example

他不努力，活该考砸了。tā bù nǔ lì huó gāi kǎo zá le

He didn't work hard, so he deserved to fail the exam.

Illustration for 活该 (deserve it)

More examples

公司负责人贪污被抓，活该坐牢。gōng sī fù zé rén tān wū bèi zhuā huó gāi zuò láo

The person in charge of the company was caught embezzling, so he deserved to go to prison.

Core concept

A speaker's judgment that someone has earned the unpleasant result caused by their own behavior.

Common phrases

  • 活该受罚huó gāi shòu fá

    deserve punishment

  • 活该被抓huó gāi bèi zhuā

    deserve to get caught

  • 活该遭报应huó gāi zāo bào yìng

    deserve to face retribution

Similar words

自作自受zì zuò zì shòu: Having to bear the consequences brought about by one's own actions.
自食其果zì shí qí guǒ: Having to suffer the bad results produced by one's own actions.
罪有应得zuì yǒu yīng dé: Deserving the punishment or bad outcome earned through one's own wrongdoing.

Definition in Chinese

表示某人因自己的行为或疏忽导致不良后果，应当遭受该结果的评断，通常带有否定或嘲讽的色彩。biǎo shì mǒu rén yīn zì jǐ de xíng wéi huò shū hū dǎo zhì bù liáng hòu guǒ yīng dāng zāo shòu gāi jié guǒ de píng duàn tōng cháng dài yǒu fǒu dìng huò cháo fěng de sè cǎi

Word origin

活该 (huógāi, "deserve it") is a colloquial variant of 合该 (hégāi, "should be so"), turning the idea of what ought to happen into a judgment about a person's outcome.

Usage tips

  • Unlike a neutral comment about cause and effect, this word also evaluates the person, so it can sound insulting when the speaker does not know the full situation.

Other meanings

  • serves you rightinterjection

Opposites

Word lists with this word