酷

Translingual

Etymology

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *kʰuːɡ): semantic 酉 ‎(“wine”) + phonetic 告 ‎(OC *kuːɡs)

Han character

酷 (radical 164 酉+7, 14 strokes, cangjie input 一田竹土口 (MWHGR), four-corner 1466₁)

1. strong, stimulating
2. very

References

• KangXi: page 1283, character 14
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 39870
• Dae Jaweon: page 1783, character 10
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 6, page 3583, character 10
• Unihan data for U+9177

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Chinese

simp. and trad.		酷

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): kù (ku⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄎㄨˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): huk⁶
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): khu̍k
• Min Nan (POJ): khok

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: kù
    • Zhuyin: ㄎㄨˋ
    • Wade-Giles: k'u⁴
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: kuh
    • IPA ^(key): /kʰu⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: huk⁶
    • Yale: huhk
    • Cantonese Pinyin: huk⁹
    • IPA ^(key): /hʊk̚²/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: khu̍k
    • Hakka Romanization System: kug
    • Hagfa Pinyim: kug⁶
    • IPA: /kʰuk̚⁵/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khok
    • Tâi-lô: khok
    • Phofsit Daibuun: qog
    • IPA (Taipei): /kʰɔk̚³²/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /kʰɔk̚³²/

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• Dialectal data▼

Variety	Location	edit 酷
Mandarin	Beijing	/kʰu⁵¹/
	Harbin	/kʰu⁴⁴/
	Tianjin	/kʰu⁵³/
	Jinan	/kʰu²¹³/
	Qingdao	/kʰu⁵⁵/
	Zhengzhou	/kʰu⁵³/
	Xi'an	/kʰu²¹/
	Xining	/kʰv̩⁵³/
	Yinchuan	/kʰu⁵³/
	Lanzhou	/kʰu¹³/
	Ürümqi	/kʰu²¹³/
	Wuhan	/kʰu²¹³/
	Chengdu	/kʰu³¹/
	Guiyang	/kʰu²¹/
	Kunming	/kʰu³¹/
	Nanjing	/kʰuʔ⁵/
	Hefei	/kʰuəʔ⁵/
Jin	Taiyuan	/kʰuəʔ²/
	Pingyao	/kʰuʌʔ¹³/
	Hohhot	/kʰuəʔ⁴³/
Wu	Shanghai	/kʰoʔ⁵/
	Suzhou	/kʰoʔ⁵/
	Hangzhou	/kʰoʔ⁵/
	Wenzhou	/kʰu²¹³/
Hui	Shexian	/kʰuʔ²¹/
	Tunxi	/kʰu⁵/
Xiang	Changsha	/kʰu²⁴/
	Xiangtan	/kʰu²⁴/
Gan	Nanchang
Hakka	Meixian	/kʰuk̚¹/
	Taoyuan
Cantonese	Guangzhou	/hok̚²/
	Nanning	/kʰuk̚⁵⁵/
	Hong Kong	/huk̚²/
Min	Xiamen (Min Nan)	/kʰɔk/
	Fuzhou (Min Dong)	/kouʔ²³/
	Jian'ou (Min Bei)	/kʰu²⁴/
	Shantou (Min Nan)	/kʰok̚²/
	Haikou (Min Nan)	/xau³⁵/

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• Middle Chinese: /kʰuok̚/▼

Rime
Character	酷
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	溪 (29)
Final (韻)	沃 (6)
Tone (調)	Checked (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	I
Fanqie	苦沃切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/kʰuok̚/
Pan Wuyun	/kʰuok̚/
Shao Rongfen	/kʰok̚/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/kʰawk̚/
Li Rong	/kʰok̚/
Wang Li	/kʰuok̚/
Bernard Karlgren	/kʰuok̚/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	ku

• Old Chinese▼

  (Baxter-Sagart): /*kʰˤuk/

  (Zhengzhang): /*kʰuːɡ/

Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	酷
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	kù
Middle Chinese	‹ khowk ›
Old Chinese	/*kʰˤuk/
English	cruel
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	酷
Reading #	1/1
No.	3824
Phonetic component	告
Rime group	覺
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	酷
Old Chinese	/*kʰuːɡ/

Etymology 1

Adjective

酷

1. cruel

   殘酷 / 残酷  ―  cánkù  ―  cruel; cruelty

2. to an extreme degree

   酷愛 / 酷爱  ―  kùài  ―  to have a passion for; to be keen on; to ardently love

Compounds

• 酷刑

Etymology 2

• Transliteration from English cool.

Adjective

酷

1. (Mandarin, slang) cool

Usage notes

Whilst English "cool" may be used in a wide variety of contexts, 酷 (kù) (and, by extension, 酷斃／酷毙 (kùbì)) is usually only used to describe something fashionable or extraordinary.

Synonyms

• 酷斃／酷毙 (kùbì)

See also

• 牛 (niú)
• 強／强 (qiáng)
• 絕／绝 (jué)

References

• Li, Jiequn; Jieming Li, Yong'an Gao, Junying Ma, Jian Leng, C.L. Shannon, Pingchao Gu, Andrew Gluckman (2007) Popular Chinese Expressions (流行汉语) (in English/Mandarin), Latest edition, Beijing: Sinolingua, ISBN 978-7-80200-100-8
• Li, Shujuan (2008) Popular Chinese Expressions (流行汉语) (in English/Mandarin), 2nd edition, Beijing: Sinolingua, ISBN 978-7-80200-388-0

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Japanese

Kanji

酷

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

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

Readings

• On: こく (koku), かく (kaku)
• Kun: きびしい (kibishii), ひどい (hidoi), むごい (mugoi)

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Korean

Hanja

酷 • ‎(hok) (hangeul 혹, revised hok, McCune-Reischauer hok, Yale hok)

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

Han character

酷 (khốc)

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