Chinese word

糟糕

Pronunciation

Pinyinzāo gāo

Meaning

  • adjectiveterrible

Example

这个消息真糟糕。zhè ge xiāo xī zhēn zāo gāo

This news is really terrible.

Illustration for 糟糕 (terrible)

More examples

他把计划弄得很糟糕。tā bǎ jì huà nòng de hěn zāo gāo

He made a terrible mess of the plan.

Core concept

A situation sliding from acceptable to seriously unsatisfactory, with the speaker reacting to its consequences.

Common phrases

  • 糟糕的消息zāo gāo de xiāo xī

    terrible news

  • 把事情弄得糟糕bǎ shì qíng nòng de zāo gāo

    make a mess of things

  • 感到糟糕gǎn dào zāo gāo

    feel awful

Similar words

不好bù hǎo: Generally bad or unwanted without pointing to a special kind of problem.
坏huài: In a damaged or faulty state and not working as it should.
差chà: Poor in quality and not good enough to satisfy expectations.
麻烦má fán: Causing trouble and making a situation harder to handle.

Definition in Chinese

用来形容质量、结果或情况很差，使人失望或增添麻烦，口语中经常作为评价或感叹使用。yòng lái xíng róng zhì liàng jié guǒ huò qíng kuàng hěn chà shǐ rén shī wàng huò zēng tiān má fán kóu yǔ zhōng jīng cháng zuò wéi píng jià huò gǎn tàn shǐ yòng

Word origin

糟 (zāo, "dregs") originally referred to residue from fermentation and later developed senses such as spoiled or poor, and 糟糕 (zāogāo, "bad") preserves that negative idea in a colloquial compound.

Usage tips

  • Unlike English adjectives that mainly describe a thing, 糟糕 (zāogāo, "bad") frequently appears as a short spoken reaction, so it can comment on a new problem before any details are given.

Other meanings

  • badadjective
  • in troubleadjective

Opposites

Word lists with this word