苦

Bitter in Chinese: 苦 (kǔ)

kǔ

bitter

HSK 3.0 Level 42 example sentences

Definitions

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

Stroke order

Watch how to write 苦 stroke by stroke.

苦

Zhuyin

This word’s pronunciation in Bopomofo.

Learn how to read Zhuyin

ㄎㄨˇ

kǔ

ㄎ/ kㄨ/ uˇ/ third tone

Example sentences

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

  • 良药苦口。

    liáng yào kǔ kǒu。

    Good medicine is bitter to the mouth.

  • 苦尽甘来。

    kǔ jìn gān lái。

    No sweet without sweat.

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Related words

辛苦

xīn kǔ

exhausting

艰苦

jiān kǔ

difficult

刻苦

kè kǔ

hardworking

痛苦

tòng kǔ

pain

吃苦

chī kǔ

to bear hardships

何苦

hé kǔ

why bother?

苦力

kǔ lì

bitter work

苦练

kǔ liàn

to train hard

苦难

kǔ nàn

suffering

苦恼

kǔ nǎo

vexed

苦笑

kǔ xiào

to force a smile

苦心

kǔ xīn

painstaking effort

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 4 vocabulary listHSK 4 vocabulary listHSK 5 vocabulary list

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