<p>投 (v); plunge into</p>

<p>胎 (n); pregnancy</p>

<p>"<strong>投胎</strong>" (plunge into pregnancy) is a compound word. It means "<strong>to reincarnate</strong>"</p>

<p><em>Olden time Chinese believed after people died and became ghosts, some of them were allowed to reincarnate and reborn into the living world</em> </p>

<p>"投个胎" break up the compound word "投胎" and treating 投 as a verb; 胎 as a noun. When 胎 is a noun, we can add classifier '个' (a)  before it to indicate indefinite </p>

<p>Similar phrase: 投幾次胎 (to reincarnate a few times)</p>

<p>different from "投个胎" (to randomly reborn), we can have “投个好胎", which mean "to reborn into a good family"</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-20T10:14:56.013Z
2019-01-20T10:14:56.013Z
Tang Ho
<p>I'm trying to understand it by finding the meaning behind each word but failed miserably.</p>

<p>What I got from MDBG:   </p>

<p><em>投 (tóu): to cast / to send / to throw oneself (into the river etc) / to seek refuge / to place oneself into the hands of</em></p>

<p><em>个 (gè): individual / this / that / size / classifier for people or objects in general</em></p>

<p><em>好 (hǎo): good / well / proper / good to / easy to / very / so / (suffix indicating completion or readiness) / (of two people) close / on intimate terms / (after a personal pronoun) hello/ to be fond of / to have a tendency to / to be prone to</em></p>

<p><em>胎 (tāi): fetus / litter / tire / abbr. of 輪胎｜轮胎</em></p>

<p>"Casting/investing/putting in a good baby or perhaps tire" just doesn't make any sense...</p>

<p>Does 好胎 here perhaps mean good karma?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-21T11:26:50.330Z
The idioms is similar to the sociology/anthropology meaning of "born in a good family".
mootmoot
<meaning><meaning-in-context><phrase-meaning>
Is "投个好胎" a proper set phrase/idiom? What does it mean?
# Is "投个好胎" a proper set phrase/idiom? What does it mean?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-01-20)

I'm trying to understand it by finding the meaning behind each word but failed miserably.

What I got from MDBG:

*投 (tóu): to cast / to send / to throw oneself (into the river etc) / to seek refuge / to place oneself into the hands of*

*个 (gè): individual / this / that / size / classifier for people or objects in general*

*好 (hǎo): good / well / proper / good to / easy to / very / so / (suffix indicating completion or readiness) / (of two people) close / on intimate terms / (after a personal pronoun) hello/ to be fond of / to have a tendency to / to be prone to*

*胎 (tāi): fetus / litter / tire / abbr. of 輪胎｜轮胎*

"Casting/investing/putting in a good baby or perhaps tire" just doesn't make any sense...

Does 好胎 here perhaps mean good karma?

**Tags:** meaning, meaning-in-context, phrase-meaning

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: The idioms is similar to the sociology/anthropology meaning of "born in a good family".  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2019-01-20. Score: 7 | Accepted answer

投 (v); plunge into

胎 (n); pregnancy

"**投胎**" (plunge into pregnancy) is a compound word. It means "**to reincarnate**"

*Olden time Chinese believed after people died and became ghosts, some of them were allowed to reincarnate and reborn into the living world*

"投个胎" break up the compound word "投胎" and treating 投 as a verb; 胎 as a noun. When 胎 is a noun, we can add classifier '个' (a) before it to indicate indefinite

Similar phrase: 投幾次胎 (to reincarnate a few times)

different from "投个胎" (to randomly reborn), we can have “投个好胎", which mean "to reborn into a good family"


---

