(w)

(kǔ) bitter; hardship; pain; to suffer; to bring suffering to; painstakingly

苦不唧 (w)

(kǔbujī) slightly bitter

苦不唧儿 (w)

(kǔbujīr) erhua variant of 苦不唧, slightly bitter

苦中作乐 (w)

(kǔzhōngzuòlè) to find joy in sorrows (idiom); to enjoy sth in spite of one's suffering

苦主 (w)

(kǔzhǔ) victim's family (esp. in murder case)

苦事 (w)

(kǔshì) hard job; arduous task

苦刑 (w)

(kǔxíng) torture; corporal punishment (traditionally involving mutilation or amputation)

苦力 (w)

(kǔlì) bitter work; hard toil; coolie (English is loan word), unskilled Chinese laborer in colonial times

苦功 (w)

(kǔgōng) hard work; laborious effort; painstaking work

苦劳 (w)

(kǔláo) toil; hard work

苦参 (w)

(kǔshēn) liquorice (Sophora flavescens), with roots used in traditional Chinese medicine

苦口 (w)

(kǔkǒu) lit. bitter taste (cf good medicine tastes bitter 良藥苦口|良药苦口); fig. earnestly (of warning, advice)

苦口婆心 (w)

(kǔkǒupóxīn) earnest and well-meaning advice (idiom); to persuade patiently

苦味 (w)

(kǔwèi) bitter taste; bitterness

苦命 (w)

(kǔmìng) hard lot; bitter fate

苦因 (w)

(kǔyīn) affliction

苦境 (w)

(kǔjìng) grievance; dire straits

苦大仇深 (w)

(kǔdàchóushēn) great bitterness, deep hatred (idiom); deeply ingrained long-standing resentment

苦寒 (w)

(kǔhán) bitter cold

苦工 (w)

(kǔgōng) hard labor (in penal code); coolie

苦差 (w)

(kǔchāi) hard and unprofitable (job); poorly paid drudgery; arduous and unrewarding (undertaking)

苦差事 (w)

(kǔchāishi) hard and unprofitable; drudgery; sweated labor

苦干 (w)

(kǔgàn) to work hard

苦役 (w)

(kǔyì) forced labor; corvée; penal servitude

苦待 (w)

(kǔdài) treat harshly

苦心 (w)

(kǔxīn) painstaking effort; to take a lot of trouble; laborious at pains

苦心孤诣 (w)

(kǔxīngūyì) to make painstaking efforts (idiom); after much trouble; to work hard at sth

苦心经营 (w)

(kǔxīnjīngyíng) to build up an enterprise through painstaking efforts

苦思 (w)

(kǔsī) to think hard; bitter thoughts; to pour out one's sufferings

苦思冥想 (w)

(kǔsīmíngxiǎng) to consider from all angles (idiom); to think hard; to rack one's brains

苦闷 (w)

(kǔmèn) depressed; dejected; feeling low

苦情 (w)

(kǔqíng) wretched situation; plight; wretched; miserable

苦恼 (w)

(kǔnǎo) vexed; distressed

苦战 (w)

(kǔzhàn) bitter struggle; hard battle; arduous effort

苦杏仁苷 (w)

(kǔxìngréngān) amygdalin

苦果 (w)

(kǔguǒ) lit. bitter fruit; fig. painful consequence

苦根 (w)

(kǔgēn) underlying cause of poverty

苦楚 (w)

(kǔchǔ) suffering; misery; pain (esp. psychological)

苦楝 (w)

(kǔliàn) chinaberry (Melia azedarach)

苦水 (w)

(kǔshuǐ) bitter water (e.g. mineral water containing sulfates); suffering; digestive fluids rising from stomach to the mouth; fig. bitter complaint

苦况 (w)

(kǔkuàng) wretched state; miserable plight

苦活 (w)

(kǔhuó) bitter work; sweated labor

苦活儿 (w)

(kǔhuór) erhua variant of 苦活, bitter work; sweated labor

苦海 (w)

(kǔhǎi) lit. sea of bitterness; abyss of worldly suffering (Buddhist term); depths of misery

苦海无边,回头是岸 (w)

(kǔhǎiwúbiānhuítóushìàn) The sea of bitterness has no bounds, turn your head to see the shore (idiom). Only Buddhist enlightenment can allow one to shed off the abyss of worldly suffering.; Repent and ye shall be saved!

苦海茫茫 (w)

(kǔhǎimángmáng) sea of bitterness is vast (idiom)

苦涩 (w)

(kǔsè) bitter and astringent; pained; agonized

苦熬 (w)

(kǔáo) to endure (years of suffering)

苦瓜 (w)

(kǔguā) bitter melon (bitter gourd, balsam pear, balsam apple, leprosy gourd, bitter cucumber)

苦瓜脸 (w)

(kǔguāliǎn) sour expression on one's face

苦甘 (w)

(kǔgān) bitter sweet

苦痛 (w)

(kǔtòng) pain; suffering

苦尽甘来 (w)

(kǔjìngānlái) bitterness finishes, sweetness begins (idiom); the hard times are over, the good times just beginning

苦竹 (w)

(kǔzhú) bitter bamboo (Pleioblastus amarus)

苦笑 (w)

(kǔxiào) to force a smile; a bitter laugh

苦肉计 (w)

(kǔròujì) the trick of injuring oneself to gain the enemy's confidence; CL:條|条[tiao2]

苦胆 (w)

(kǔdǎn) gall bladder

苦艾 (w)

(kǔài) wormwood; Artemisia absinthium

苦艾酒 (w)

(kǔàijiǔ) absinthe (distilled anise-based liquor)

苦苓 (w)

(kǔlíng) chinaberry (Melia azedarach)

苦苣 (w)

(kǔjù) endive

苦苦 (w)

(kǔkǔ) strenuously; persistently; hard; painful

苦苦哀求 (w)

(kǔkǔāiqiú) to entreat piteously; to implore

苦菊 (w)

(kǔjú) endive

苦菜花 (w)

(kǔcàihuā) Bitter cauliflower, 1954 socialist realist novel by Feng Deying 馮德英|冯德英[Feng2 De2 ying1] loosely based on Maxim Gorky's Mother, made into a 1967 film by Li Ang

苦蘵 (w)

(kǔzhí) cutleaf ground-cherry; Physalis angulata

苦处 (w)

(kǔchu) suffering; distress

苦行 (w)

(kǔxíng) ascetic practice

苦行赎罪 (w)

(kǔxíngshúzuì) penance (to atone for a sin)

苦衷 (w)

(kǔzhōng) painful embarrassment; predicament; difficulties

苦谏 (w)

(kǔjiàn) to admonish strenuously

苦趣 (w)

(kǔqù) wretched feelings (opposite: 樂趣|乐趣, delight)

苦迭打 (w)

(kǔdiédǎ) coup d'état (loanword)

苦集灭道 (w)

(kǔjímièdào) the Four Noble Truths (Budd.), namely: all life is suffering 苦, the cause of suffering is desire 集, emancipation comes only by eliminating passions 滅|灭, the way 道 to emancipation is the Eight-fold Noble Way 八正道; also called 四諦|四谛

苦难 (w)

(kǔnàn) suffering

苦难深重 (w)

(kǔnànshēnzhòng) deep grief; extensive sorrow

苦头 (w)

(kǔtou) sufferings