酷

酷 U+9177, 酷 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-9177 ← 酶 [U+9176] CJK Unified Ideographs 酸 → [U+9178]

Translingual

Han character

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

References

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

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Chinese

trad.		酷
simp. #		酷

Glyph origin

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

	Old Chinese
造	*skʰuːɡs, *sɡuːʔ
慥	*skʰuːɡs
艁	*skʰuːɡs, *sɡuːʔ
糙	*skʰuːɡs
告	*kuːɡs, *kuːɡ
誥	*kuːɡs
郜	*kuːɡs, *kuːɡ
祰	*kʰuːʔ, *kuːɡ
靠	*kʰuːɡs
浩	*ɡuːʔ, *kuːb
晧	*ɡuːʔ
皓	*ɡuːʔ
窖	*kruːɡs
簉	*skʰruɡs
梏	*kruːɡ, *kuːɡ
硞	*kʰruːɡ, *kʰuːɡ
牿	*kuːɡ
鵠	*kuːɡ, *ɡuːɡ
酷	*kʰuːɡ
焅	*kʰuːɡ
嚳	*kʰuːɡ
頶	*ɡuːɡ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *kʰuːɡ): semantic 酉 (“alcoholic drink”) + phonetic 告 (OC *kuːɡs, *kuːɡ).

Etymology

Original meaning was “cruel”. The sense “cool” is a phono-semantic matching of English cool.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): kù (ku⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄎㄨˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): huk⁶
• Hakka

  (Sixian, PFS): khu̍k

  (Meixian, Guangdong): kug⁵

• Min Bei (KCR): kŭ / kṳ̆
• Min Dong (BUC): gók
• Min Nan

  (Hokkien, POJ): khok

  (Teochew, Peng'im): kog⁴

• Wu (Wiktionary): khoq (T4)

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Pinyin: kù
    • Zhuyin: ㄎㄨˋ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: kuh
    • Tongyong Pinyin: kù
    • Wade–Giles: kʻu4
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰu⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: huk⁶
    • Yale: huhk
    • Cantonese Pinyin: huk⁹
    • Guangdong Romanization: hug⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /hʊk̚²/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: khu̍k
    • Hakka Romanization System: kug
    • Hagfa Pinyim: kug⁶
    • Sinological IPA: /kʰuk̚⁵/
  • (Meixian)
    • Guangdong: kug⁵
    • Sinological IPA: /kʰʊk̚¹/
• Min Bei
  • (Jian'ou)
    • Kienning Colloquial Romanized: kŭ / kṳ̆
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰu²⁴/, /kʰy²⁴/
• Min Dong
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: gók
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kouʔ²⁴/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khok
    • Tâi-lô: khok
    • Phofsit Daibuun: qog
    • IPA (Xiamen): /kʰɔk̚³²/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /kʰɔk̚⁵/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /kʰɔk̚³²/
    • IPA (Taipei): /kʰɔk̚³²/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /kʰɔk̚³²/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: kog⁴
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: khok
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰok̚²/
• Wu
  • (Shanghainese)
    • Wiktionary: khoq (T4)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰʊʔ⁵⁵/

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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)	/kʰɔk̚³²/
	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
Expected Cantonese Reflex	huk1

• 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	/*kʰˁuk/
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/

Definitions

酷

1. (literary, of alcohol) strong; intense
2. cruel; brutal; savage

   殘酷 / 残酷  ―  cánkù  ―  cruel

3. extremely; to an extreme degree

   酷愛 / 酷爱  ―  kù'ài  ―  to have a passion for; to ardently love

4. (Mandarin, slang) cool; awesome

Usage notes

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

See also

• 牛 (niú)
• 強／强 (qiáng)
• 絕／绝 (jué)

Compounds

• 冷酷 (lěngkù)
• 嚴酷／严酷 (yánkù)
• 峻酷
• 慘酷／惨酷 (cǎnkù)
• 殘酷／残酷 (cánkù)
• 苟弟轉酷／苟弟转酷
• 貪殘酷烈／贪残酷烈
• 貪酷／贪酷

• 酷似 (kùsì)
• 酷刑 (kùxíng)
• 酷吏 (kùlì)
• 酷哥
• 酷嗜
• 酷好 (kùhào)
• 酷妹
• 酷寒

• 酷愛／酷爱 (kù'ài)
• 酷斃／酷毙 (kùbì)
• 酷斃了／酷毙了
• 酷暑 (kùshǔ)
• 酷烈 (kùliè)
• 酷熱／酷热 (kùrè)
• 酷肖
• 酷虐

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Japanese

Kanji

酷

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. cruel, severe
2. extremely

Readings

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

Compounds

• 酷寒
• 酷刑
• 酷使
• 酷似

• 酷暑
• 酷評
• 酷吏
• 苛酷

• 過酷
• 厳酷
• 残酷
• 冷酷

Adjective

Kanji in this term
酷
こく Grade: S
on’yomi

酷(こく) • (koku) ^{←こく (koku)?} -na (adnominal 酷(こく)な (koku na), adverbial 酷(こく)に (koku ni))

1. cruel, severe

Inflection

Inflection of 酷

Stem forms
Imperfective (未然形)	酷だろ	こくだろ	koku daro
Continuative (連用形)	酷で	こくで	koku de
Terminal (終止形)	酷だ	こくだ	koku da
Attributive (連体形)	酷な	こくな	koku na
Hypothetical (仮定形)	酷なら	こくなら	koku nara
Imperative (命令形)	酷であれ	こくであれ	koku de are
Key constructions
Informal negative	酷ではない 酷じゃない	こくではない こくじゃない	koku de wa nai koku ja nai
Informal past	酷だった	こくだった	koku datta
Informal negative past	酷ではなかった 酷じゃなかった	こくではなかった こくじゃなかった	koku de wa nakatta koku ja nakatta
Formal	酷です	こくです	koku desu
Formal negative	酷ではありません 酷じゃありません	こくではありません こくじゃありません	koku de wa arimasen koku ja arimasen
Formal past	酷でした	こくでした	koku deshita
Formal negative past	酷ではありませんでした 酷じゃありませんでした	こくではありませんでした こくじゃありませんでした	koku de wa arimasen deshita koku ja arimasen deshita
Conjunctive	酷で	こくで	koku de
Conditional	酷なら（ば）	こくなら（ば）	koku nara (ba)
Provisional	酷だったら	こくだったら	koku dattara
Volitional	酷だろう	こくだろう	koku darō
Adverbial	酷に	こくに	koku ni
Degree	酷さ	こくさ	kokusa

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Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 酷 (MC kʰuok̚).

Hanja

Wikisource

酷 (eumhun 심할 혹 (simhal hok))

1. Hanja form^? of 혹 (“cruel”).

Compounds

Compounds

• 혹독 (酷毒, hokdok, “harsh”)
• 혹사 (酷使, hoksa, “exploitation”)
• 냉혹 (冷酷, naenghok, “cruelty, severity”)
• 잔혹 (殘酷, janhok, “cruelty”)
• 참혹 (慘酷, chamhok, “extreme cruelty”)
• 혹평 (酷評, hokpyeong, “censure”)
• 혹사 (酷似, hoksa, “striking resemblance”)
• 혹박 (酷薄, hokbak, “cruelty, callousness”)
• 혹렬 (酷烈, hongnyeol, “cruelty”)

References

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [1]

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Vietnamese

Han character

酷: Hán Nôm readings: khốc

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