苛
刻

Harsh in Chinese: 苛刻 (kē kè)

kē kè

harsh

HSK 3.0 Levels 7-91 example sentence

Definitions

  1. 1harsh
  2. 2severe
  3. 3demanding

Stroke order

Watch how to write 苛刻 stroke by stroke.

苛
刻

Zhuyin

This word’s pronunciation in Bopomofo.

Learn how to read Zhuyin

ㄎㄜ

kē

ㄎ/ kㄜ/ e—/ first tone

ㄎㄜˋ

kè

ㄎ/ kㄜ/ eˋ/ fourth tone

Example sentences

See 苛刻 used in real sentences with pinyin and English translations.

  • 老板对我们的要求太苛刻了。

    lǎo bǎn duì wǒ men de yāo qiú tài kē kè le。

    The boss's demands on us are far too harsh.

Spotted a mistake?

Related words

刻

kè

quarter (hour)

刻苦

kè kǔ

hardworking

立刻

lì kè

forthwith

深刻

shēn kè

profound

时刻

shí kè

time

此刻

cǐ kè

this moment

雕刻

diāo kè

to carve

刻意

kè yì

intentionally

刻舟求剑

kè zhōu qiú jiàn

lit. a notch on the side of a boat to locate a sword dropped overboard (idiom)

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Levels 7-9 vocabulary list

Learn 苛刻 with spaced repetition

Add 苛刻 (kē kè) to your review queue and the FSRS algorithm will schedule it exactly when you're about to forget — then meet it again in a short AI-generated story written at your level.

Start learning free

No credit card required · Free tier included