---
title: "Daomei Meaning: 倒霉 (dǎoméi) Means “unlucky”"
description: "倒霉 (dǎoméi) means “unlucky; out of luck; to have bad luck”. Hear its tones, see what 倒 and 霉 each mean and a real sentence that uses it."
canonical: "https://mandarinthewild.com/meaning/daomei"
published: "2026-10-21"
updated: "2026-11-06"
author: "Mandarin The Wild"
---

[What does it mean in Chinese?](https://mandarinthewild.com/meaning)

# What does 倒霉 mean?

猫头鹰māotóuyīngowl

倒霉 dǎoméi

## unlucky; out of luck; to have bad luck

## Its characters

1. 倒 dǎo to fall
2. 霉 méi bad luck (as in 倒霉)

## In a sentence

今天真倒霉，钱包丢了。 Today is really unlucky, I lost my wallet.

到时候师父偿命，猴哥一个筋斗跑了，**倒霉**的还是我们！

From [三打白骨精 · Sun Wukong and the White Bone Demon](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/sun-wukong-and-the-white-bone-demon#library-word-933-935)

[More about 倒霉](https://mandarinthewild.com/words/%E5%80%92%E9%9C%89)

## More words with 倒 or 霉

- [倒数 dàoshǔ](https://mandarinthewild.com/meaning/daoshu)
- [反倒 fǎndào](https://mandarinthewild.com/meaning/fandao)

## Keep 倒霉 for Review

A free account keeps it, and Review brings it back just before you’d forget it.

## Look up another word

## See any word in its sentence

Get a card like this for every word on any page or YouTube subtitle.

[Add to Chrome](https://mandarinthewild.com/go/chrome?from=%2Fmeaning%2Fdaomei) [Read in the Library](https://mandarinthewild.com/library)

[All 214 Chinese radicals](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-radicals)

[The best Pleco alternatives](https://mandarinthewild.com/guides/pleco-alternatives)