苦

苦 U+82E6, 苦 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-82E6 ← 若 [U+82E5] CJK Unified Ideographs 苧 → [U+82E7]

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

Translingual

Stroke order

Mainland China and Japan

Han character

苦 (Kangxi radical 140, 艸+6 in traditional Chinese, 艸+5 in mainland China and Japanese, 9 strokes in traditional Chinese, 8 strokes in mainland China and Japanese, 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

• Unihan data for U+2F996

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Chinese

trad.		苦
simp. #		苦
alternative forms		𡿵 𩇵 瘔

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 1

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

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. (regional) excessive
6. (transitive) to cause someone suffering; to give someone a hard time
7. to suffer from; to be handicapped by

   • 魏武曰：「人苦無足，既得隴右，復欲得蜀！」 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
     魏武曰：「人苦无足，既得陇右，复欲得蜀！」 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

     From: 648 CE, Fang Xuanling (lead editor), Book of Jin

     Wèi Wǔ yuē: “Rén kǔ wúzú, jì dé Lǒngyòu, fù yù dé Shǔ!” [Pinyin]

     (Emperor) Wu of Wei said: "Men suffer from insatiability, already having Longyou yet still wanting to get Shu!"

8. (obsolete or Eastern Min) to worry about; to be concerned about
9. strenuously; painstakingly

   苦笑  ―  kǔxiào  ―  to force a smile

Synonyms

• (difficult): 難過／难过 (nánguò)
• (excessive):

(deprecated template usage)

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• 不像話／不像话 (bùxiànghuà)
• 不成話／不成话 (bùchénghuà)
• 偏激 (piānjī) (thoughts, attitudes)
• 太甚 (tàishèn)
• 太過／太过 (tàiguò)
• 過分／过分 (guòfèn)
• 過度／过度 (guòdù)
• 過火／过火 (guòhuǒ)
• 過甚／过甚 (guòshèn) (literary)
• 過當／过当 (guòdàng)
• 過角／过角 (Xiamen Hokkien, Zhangzhou Hokkien)
• 過頭／过头 (guòtóu)

 

• (to suffer from): 苦於／苦于 (kǔyú)

Antonyms

• (bitter): 甘 (gān), 甜 (tián)

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (苦):

• → Japanese: 苦(く) (ku)
• → Korean: 고(苦) (go)
• → Vietnamese: khổ (苦)

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): gǔ (gu³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄍㄨˇ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: gǔ
    • Zhuyin: ㄍㄨˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: gǔ
    • Wade–Giles: ku³
    • Yale: gǔ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: guu
    • Palladius: гу (gu)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ku²¹⁴/

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 苦

1. (deprecated template usage) Alternative form of 盬 (gǔ).

Further reading

• “Entry #5470”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2024.

(deprecated template usage)

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Japanese

Kanji

苦

(Third grade 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 Middle Chinese 苦 (khu^X, “suffering”).

Noun

苦(く) • (ku) 

1. suffering
2. (Buddhism) dukkha

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Korean

Hanja

苦 (eumhun 괴로울 고 (goeroul go))

1. hanja form^? of 고 (“suffering, pain”)

Compounds

• 고민 (苦悶, gomin, “worry”)

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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)