bitter; to suffer; hardship

HSK 4 #634

Character data

HSK 4
Frequency 634th character
Radical ⾋ (140.5)
Strokes 8
Index # 999

Definitions

苦 kǔ
  1. 1. bitter
  2. 2. to suffer
  3. 3. hardship
  4. 4. pain
  5. 5. painstakingly
  6. 6. to bring suffering to

Stroke order

苦 stroke order diagram
苦 stroke order animation

Words containing 苦

Word Meaning
leading a plain, hardworking life (idiom)
leading a plain, hardworking life (idiom)
slightly bitter
erhua variant of kǔ bu jī
erhua variant of kǔ bu jī
find joy in hardship; stay cheerful in pain
find joy in hardship; be happy despite hard life
hard job; arduous task
toil; hard work
liquorice (Sophora flavescens), with roots used in TCM
lit. bitter taste (cf good medicine tastes bitter liáng yào kǔ kǒu)
to have difficulty getting by
affliction
to work hard
treat harshly
to make painstaking efforts (idiom); after much trouble
to build up an enterprise through painstaking efforts
depressed; dejected; feeling low
wretched situation; plight; wretched
distressed; vexed
hard battle; bitter struggle; arduous effort
hard times
amygdalin
underlying cause of poverty