只好
zhǐhǎo · HSK 3
have to
🤷 只 = only + 好 = good/OK → 'only OK option left' = have no choice but
只 means 'only/just' and 好 here means 'alright/acceptable'. Together: the only acceptable path forward — you're forced into it because nothing else works.
只 — mouth 口 + bird tail 八
Originally a pictograph showing a bird (口 as body) with its tail feathers (八) spread, meaning a single bird. It was later borrowed phonetically to write the grammatical particle and adverb meaning 'only' or 'just,' which became its dominant modern use.
好 — woman 女 + child 子
好 is an associative compound showing a woman 女 beside a child 子, depicting a mother with her baby. From this image of maternal affection it came to mean 'good, fine, pleasing.' The reading hǎo means 'good'; read hào it means 'to like.'