苦

苦 U+2F996, 苦 CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-2F996 ← 芽 [U+2F995] CJK Compatibility Ideographs Supplement 𦬼 → [U+2F997]

Translingual

Han character

苦 (Kangxi radical 140, 艸+5, 8 strokes, cangjie input 廿十口 (TJR), four-corner 4460₄, composition ⿱艹古)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1023, character 16
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 30797
• Dae Jaweon: page 1482, character 13
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3186, character 2
• Unihan data for U+82E6

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Chinese

trad.		苦
simp. #		苦

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 苦
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (古) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
箇	*kaːls
個	*kaːls
居	*kɯ, *kas
橭	*kaː, *kʰaː
嫴	*kaː
姑	*kaː
辜	*kaː
酤	*kaː, *kaːs, *ɡaːʔ
蛄	*kaː
鴣	*kaː
沽	*kaː, *kaːʔ, *kaːs
盬	*kaː, *kaːʔ
古	*kaːʔ
罟	*kaːʔ
估	*kaːʔ
鈷	*kaːʔ
詁	*kaːʔ
牯	*kaːʔ
故	*kaːs
固	*kaːs
稒	*kaːɡs
痼	*kaːɡs
錮	*kaːɡs
鯝	*kaːɡs
棝	*kaːɡs
凅	*kaːɡs
枯	*kʰaː
軲	*kʰaː
跍	*kʰaː
骷	*kʰaː
苦	*kʰaːʔ, *kʰaːs
葫	*qʰaː, *ɡaː
餬	*ɡaː
瑚	*ɡaː
湖	*ɡaː
鶘	*ɡaː
猢	*ɡaː
醐	*ɡaː
糊	*ɡaː
箶	*ɡaː
蝴	*ɡaː
胡	*ɡaː
瓳	*ɡaː
怙	*ɡaːʔ
祜	*ɡaːʔ
岵	*ɡaːʔ
婟	*ɡaːʔ, *ɡaːɡs
楛	*ɡaːʔ
据	*ka
裾	*ka
琚	*ka
椐	*ka, *kas, *kʰa
鶋	*ka
蜛	*ka
崌	*ka
涺	*ka
腒	*ka, *ɡa
鋸	*kas
倨	*kas
踞	*kas
涸	*ɡaːɡ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kʰaːʔ, *kʰaːs) : semantic 艸 (“grass”) + phonetic 古 (OC *kaːʔ) – bitter (as in bitter plants).

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *b-ka. Cognate with 肝 (OC *kaːn, “liver”).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): kǔ (ku³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄎㄨˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): fu²
• Hakka

  (Sixian, PFS): fú / khú

  (Meixian, Guangdong): ku³

• Eastern Min (BUC): kū
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): khó͘

  (Teochew, Peng'im): kou²

• Wu (Wugniu)
  • (Northern): ⁵khu

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: kǔ
    • Zhuyin: ㄎㄨˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: kǔ
    • Wade–Giles: kʻu³
    • Yale: kǔ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: kuu
    • Palladius: ку (ku)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰu²¹⁴/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: fu²
    • Yale: fú
    • Cantonese Pinyin: fu²
    • Guangdong Romanization: fu²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /fuː³⁵/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: fú / khú
    • Hakka Romanization System: fu` / ku`
    • Hagfa Pinyim: fu³ / ku³
    • Sinological IPA: /fu³¹/, /kʰu³¹/
  • (Meixian)
    • Guangdong: ku³
    • Sinological IPA: /kʰu³¹/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: kū
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰu³³/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khó͘
    • Tâi-lô: khóo
    • Phofsit Daibuun: qor
    • IPA (Xiamen): /kʰɔ⁵³/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /kʰɔ⁵⁵⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /kʰɔ⁵³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /kʰɔ⁵³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /kʰɔ⁴¹/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: kou²
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: khóu
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰou⁵²/
• Wu
  • (Shanghai):
    • Wugniu: ⁵khu
    • MiniDict: khu^去
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ²khu
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /kʰu³⁴/

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• Middle Chinese: khuX, khuH

Rime
Character	苦	苦
Reading #	1/2	2/2
Initial (聲)	溪 (29)	溪 (29)
Final (韻)	模 (23)	模 (23)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	I	I
Fanqie	康杜切	苦故切
Baxter	khuX	khuH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/kʰuoX/	/kʰuoH/
Pan Wuyun	/kʰuoX/	/kʰuoH/
Shao Rongfen	/kʰoX/	/kʰoH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/kʰɔX/	/kʰɔH/
Li Rong	/kʰoX/	/kʰoH/
Wang Li	/kʰuX/	/kʰuH/
Bernard Karlgren	/kʰuoX/	/kʰuoH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	kǔ	kù
Expected Cantonese Reflex	fu2	fu3

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*kʰˤaʔ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*kʰaːʔ/, /*kʰaːs/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	苦
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	kǔ
Middle Chinese	‹ khuX ›
Old Chinese	/*kʰˁaʔ/
English	bitter
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	苦	苦
Reading #	1/2	2/2
No.	4242	4243
Phonetic component	古	古
Rime group	魚	魚
Rime subdivision	0	0
Corresponding MC rime	苦	絝
Old Chinese	/*kʰaːʔ/	/*kʰaːs/

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 苦

1. bitter

   苦瓜  ―  kǔguā  ―  bittermelon

2. Alternative name for 荼 (tú, “bitter plant”).
3. difficult; painful; hard
4. hardship; suffering

   辛苦  ―  xīnkǔ  ―  laborious; hard; miserable

5. (dialectal) excessive
6. to cause someone suffering; to give someone a hard time
7. to suffer from; to be handicapped by
8. (obsolete or Eastern Min) to worry about; to be concerned about
9. strenuously; painstakingly

   苦笑  ―  kǔxiào  ―  to force a smile

Further reading

• “Entry #5470”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.

(deprecated template usage)

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Japanese

Kanji

苦

(grade 3 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. pain, anguish, suffering, discomfort, hardship, worry
2. (Buddhism) dukkha, suffering

Readings

• Go-on: く (ku, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: こ (ko)
• Kun: くるしい (kurushii, 苦しい, Jōyō); くるしむ (kurushimu, 苦しむ, Jōyō); くるしめる (kurushimeru, 苦しめる, Jōyō); くるしみ (kurushimi, 苦しみ); くるしむめる (kurushimumeru, 苦しむめる); にがい (nigai, 苦い, Jōyō); にがむ (nigamu, 苦む); にがみ (nigami, 苦み); にがめる (nigameru, 苦める); にがる (nigaru, 苦る, Jōyō)

Compounds

Compounds

• 苦土(くど) (kudo): magnesia, magnesium oxide
• 苦(く)無(ない) (kunai): a kunai
• 苦(く)茗(めい) (kumei): bitter tea

Etymology

Kanji in this term
苦
く Grade: 3
on’yomi

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle Chinese 苦 (khu^X, “suffering”).

Noun

苦(く) • (ku) 

1. suffering
2. (Buddhism) dukkha

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Korean

Hanja

苦 • (go) (hangeul 고, revised go, McCune–Reischauer ko, Yale ko)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

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Vietnamese

Alternative forms

• 𦹵
• 𦹯

Han character

苦: Hán Việt readings: khổ
苦: Nôm readings: cỏ, khó, khủ, khổ, cô

References

• Lê Sơn Thanh, "Nom-Viet.dat", WinVNKey (details)