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Traditional
Pīnyīn
English Definition Add a new word to the dictionary Simplified
HSK
pain / suffering / painful / CL: 個|个
HSK 3
charactercopyAIpronouncebaikeskritterexampleCorrect
  *苦* | 苦* | *苦
bitter / hardship / pain / to suffer / to bring suffering to / painstakingly
HSK 4
exhausting / hard / tough / arduous / to work hard / to go to a lot of trouble / hardship(s)
HSK 5
difficult / hard / arduous
HSK 5
why bother? / is it worth the trouble?
HSK 7-9
to grumble / to complain / grievance
HSK 7-9
to force a smile / a bitter laugh
HSK 7-9
vexed / distressed
HSK 7-9
to suffer hardship
HSK 7-9
suffering
HSK 7-9
to struggle arduously
HSK 7-9
bitter work / hard toil / (loanword) coolie, unskilled Chinese laborer in colonial times
HSK 7-9
to bear hardships
HSK 7-9
painstaking effort / to take a lot of trouble / laborious at pains
HSK 7-9
to look anxious (idiom) / to look miserable
HSK 7-9
to train hard / to practice diligently / hard work / blood, sweat, and tears
HSK 7-9
hardworking / assiduous
HSK 7-9
to speak sarcastically / to make cutting remarks / also pr. [wa1 ku5]
HSK 7-9
painstakingly / with great trouble
bitter melon (bitter gourd, balsam pear, balsam apple, leprosy gourd, bitter cucumber)
bitter struggle / hard battle / arduous effort
impoverished / destitute
to study diligently / to train assiduously
bitter and astringent / pained / agonized
good times and hardships / joys and tribulations / for better or for worse
strenuously / persistently / hard / painful
sufferings
to build up an enterprise through painstaking efforts
deprivation / distressed / miserable
hard lot / bitter fate / unfortunate
to entreat piteously / to implore
hardworking and enduring hardships (idiom)
depressed / dejected / feeling low
to have difficulty getting by / to struggle (financially etc)
the trick of injuring oneself to gain the enemy's confidence / CL: 條|条
to take a lot of trouble (idiom); painstaking / at the cost of a lot of effort
leading a plain, hardworking life (idiom)
to find joy in sorrows (idiom); to enjoy sth in spite of one's suffering
The sea of bitterness has no bounds, turn your head to see the shore (idiom). Only Buddhist enlightenment can allow one to shed off the abyss of worldly suffering. / Repent and ye shall be saved!
to bear hardships and work hard (idiom); assiduous and long-suffering / hard-working and capable of overcoming adversity
to suffer / to suffer for one's actions / to pay dearly / to burn one's fingers
to suffer from (a disadvantage)
hard times
sour expression on one's face
chinaberry (Melia azedarach)
see 苦差
to work hard
secret trouble / sorrow / difficulties
poverty-stricken / poor
liquorice (Sophora flavescens), with roots used in TCM
to make nothing of hardships
to bring trouble on oneself
gallbladder
to study diligently
lit. sour, sweet, bitter and spicy (idiom) / fig. all kinds of flavors; the joys and sorrows of life
to make painstaking efforts (idiom); after much trouble / to work hard at sth
to spare no effort
to suffer untold hardships (idiom); trials and tribulations / with difficulty / after some effort
to view one's past as miserable and one's present as happy (idiom)
(idiom) to ask for trouble; to make a rod for one's own back
to whine on for days (idiom) / to endlessly grumble complaints / incessant whining
treat harshly
cutleaf ground-cherry / Physalis angulata
Heaven will not disappoint the person who tries (idiom). If you try hard, you're bound to succeed eventually.
bleak; miserable
to ponder earnestly / to give a lot of thought to sth
lit. bleak wind and icy rain (idiom) / fig. hardships; miserable circumstances
endive
wretched state / miserable plight
(idiom) to have suffered all kinds of hardships
suffering / distress
pain / suffering
to escape from the abyss of suffering / to shed off a wretched plight
good medicine tastes bitter (idiom); fig. frank criticism is hard to swallow
pains (of illness) / sufferings (esp. in Buddhism)
(Buddhism) the pain of parting with what (or whom) one loves, one of the eight distresses 八苦
ascetic practice
(old) the family of the victim in a murder case / (Tw, HK) victim (of a crime, misfortune etc) / (Tw) (coll.) person who bears the burden while others benefit
bitterness finishes, sweetness begins (idiom); the hard times are over, the good times just beginning
earnest and well-meaning advice (idiom); to persuade patiently
to bury oneself in work (idiom); to be engrossed in work / to make an all-out effort / up to the neck in work
pain and difficulties / suffering (of the people)
grievance / dire straits
to whine about hardships / to complain of one's bitter lot / to complain / to grumble
to admonish strenuously
persisting despite trials and tribulations (idiom); conspicuous determination
lit. bitter taste (cf good medicine tastes bitter 良藥苦口|良药苦口) / fig. earnestly (of warning, advice)
to visit the poor and ask about their suffering (idiom)
suffering / misery / pain (esp. psychological)
lit. sea of bitterness / abyss of worldly suffering (Buddhist term) / depths of misery
to be born under an ill star
shared delights and common hardships (idiom); to share life's joys and sorrows / for better or for worse
to have bitter digestive fluids rising to the mouth / fig. to complain bitterly / to pour out one's sufferings
anxiety / distress
forlorn; miserable
lit. the pain of being hanged upside down (idiom); fig. extremely critical situation / dire straits
ascetic monk
to suffer unspeakable misery / indescribably painful / hellish
bitter hardship / to bear one's cross
bitter taste / bitterness

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