Course Flashcards Sentences Texts Games
Tools
My Decks
Manage custom decks
Hanzi
Characters & strokes
Dictionary
Search everything
LearnChinese.ai - Learn Mandarin Chinese Online LearnChinese.ai - Learn Mandarin Chinese Online
LearnChinese.ai - Learn Mandarin Chinese Online LearnChinese.ai - Learn Mandarin Chinese Online
Course Flashcards Sentences Texts Games
My Decks
Manage custom decks
Hanzi
Characters & strokes
Dictionary
Search everything
Login Sign Up
Back to Dictionary
苦
kǔ
1. bitter
2. hardship
3. pain
4. to suffer
5. to bring suffering to
6. painstakingly
HSK 4 Very Common • Top 3% ✏️ 9 strokes

Character Breakdown (Single character)

苦
kǔ
bitter; hardship, suffering
HSK 4 8 丶

Compound Words (20)

何苦
hékǔ
why bother?
八苦
bākǔ
the eight distresses - birth, age, sickness, death, parting with what we love, meeting with what we hate, unattained aims, and all the ills of the five skandhas (Buddhism)
冤苦
yuānkǔ
suffering from injustice
凄苦
qīkǔ
bleak
刻苦
kèkǔ
hardworking
HSK 5
劳苦
láokǔ
labor
勤苦
qínkǔ
hardworking
受苦
shòukǔ
to suffer hardship
叫苦
jiàokǔ
to whine about hardships
吃苦
chīkǔ
to bear hardships
HSK 6
命苦
mìngkǔ
to be born under an ill star
困苦
kùnkǔ
deprivation
愁苦
chóukǔ
anxiety
挖苦
wākǔ
to speak sarcastically
清苦
qīngkǔ
destitute but honest
甘苦
gānkǔ
good times and hardships
疾苦
jíkǔ
pain and difficulties
痛苦
tòngkǔ
pain
HSK 5
穷苦
qióngkǔ
impoverished
艰苦
jiānkǔ
difficult
HSK 5

Metadata

Category
Chinese
HSK Character Level
4
Character Frequency Rank
633
Word Frequency Rank
2,181 of 84,292

LearnChinese.ai

Master Mandarin

Site

About Custom Decks Accounts & Social Contact

Editorial

Learning Resources Blog HSK 2.0 vs 3.0

Legal

Privacy Policy Terms of Service

Support

❤️ Donate

© 2026 LearnChinese.ai. All rights reserved.