酷

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

Translingual

Han character

酷 (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

---

Chinese

simp. and trad.		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)

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Pinyin: kù
    • Zhuyin: ㄎㄨˋ
    • Wade–Giles: kʻu4
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: kuh
    • Tongyong Pinyin: kù
    • 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/

---

• 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/

---

• 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	/*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. cruel; brutal; savage

   殘酷 / 残酷  ―  cánkù  ―  cruel

2. extremely; to an extreme degree

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

3. (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

---

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 (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)

---

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}}.

---

Vietnamese

Han character

酷 (khốc)

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