正好
zhènghǎo · HSK 2
exactly
🎯 正 = right/correct + 好 = good → correct-good = just right, exactly
正 means correct or upright, 好 means good. Together 正好 literally reads as correct-good, which extends to just right or exactly on the mark — the timing or amount lands precisely where it should.
正 — one 一 + stop 止
Originally an ideograph showing a foot (止) advancing toward a target line (一), meaning 'to march straight toward' a city or goal. From this came the senses 'upright,' 'correct,' and 'proper.' The military sense survives in 征 (to campaign), which took over the original 'march' meaning.
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.'