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Pīnyīn
English Definition Add a new word to the dictionary Traditional
HSK
pain / suffering / painful / CL: 個|个
HSK 3
charactercopystroke orderAIpronouncebaikeskritterexampleCorrect
  *苦* | 苦* | *苦
bitter / hardship / pain / to suffer / to bring suffering to / painstakingly
HSK 4
exhausting / hard / tough / arduous / to work hard / to go to a lot of trouble / hardship(s)
HSK 5
difficult / hard / arduous
HSK 5
lit. sour, sweet, bitter and spicy (idiom) / fig. all kinds of flavors; the joys and sorrows of life
HSK 5
to grumble / to complain / grievance
HSK 7-9
bitter work / hard toil / (loanword) coolie, unskilled Chinese laborer in colonial times
HSK 7-9
to struggle arduously
HSK 7-9
suffering
HSK 7-9
to train hard / to practice diligently / hard work / blood, sweat, and tears
HSK 7-9
hardworking / assiduous
HSK 7-9
to speak sarcastically / to make cutting remarks / also pr. [wa1 ku5]
HSK 7-9
to look anxious (idiom) / to look miserable
HSK 7-9
painstaking effort / to take a lot of trouble / laborious at pains
HSK 7-9
to bear hardships
HSK 7-9
why bother? / is it worth the trouble?
HSK 7-9
vexed / distressed
HSK 7-9
to suffer hardship
HSK 7-9
to force a smile / a bitter laugh
HSK 7-9
good medicine tastes bitter (idiom); fig. frank criticism is hard to swallow
impoverished / destitute
Ixeris denticulata
to make a hard living as unskilled laborer
wormwood / Artemisia absinthium
one cannot achieve glory and wealth without having been through trials and tribulations (proverb) / no pain, no gain
wretched state / miserable plight
(coll.) miserable; wretched
to whine on for days (idiom) / to endlessly grumble complaints / incessant whining
pain / suffering
bitter struggle / hard battle / arduous effort
physical pain / lit. skin and flesh suffer
bitter melon (bitter gourd, balsam pear, balsam apple, leprosy gourd, bitter cucumber)
bitter taste / bitterness
poverty-stricken / poor
to suffer from (a disadvantage)
hard lot / bitter fate / unfortunate
pain and difficulties / suffering (of the people)
lit. bitter fruit / fig. painful consequence
deprivation / distressed / miserable
depressed / dejected / feeling low
secret trouble / sorrow / difficulties
to toil / hard work
to be born under an ill star
to suffer unspeakable misery / indescribably painful / hellish
lit. sea of bitterness / abyss of worldly suffering (Buddhist term) / depths of misery
to bury oneself in work (idiom); to be engrossed in work / to make an all-out effort / up to the neck in work
(idiom) great bitterness and deep hatred; deeply ingrained long-standing resentment
painstakingly / with great trouble
bitter cold
forlorn; miserable
to take a lot of trouble (idiom); painstaking / at the cost of a lot of effort
grievance / dire straits
to suffer untold hardships (idiom); trials and tribulations / with difficulty / after some effort
bitter water (e.g. mineral water containing sulfates) / suffering / digestive fluids rising from stomach to the mouth / fig. bitter complaint
leading a plain, hardworking life (idiom)
bitter and astringent / pained / agonized
sufferings
destitute but honest / poor and simple / spartan / austere
to whine about hardships / to complain of one's bitter lot / to complain / to grumble
to work hard
to make nothing of hardships
(old) the family of the victim in a murder case / (Tw, HK) victim (of a crime, misfortune etc) / (Tw) (coll.) person who bears the burden while others benefit
to ponder earnestly / to give a lot of thought to sth
to study diligently / to train assiduously
earnest and well-meaning advice (idiom); to persuade patiently
ascetic monk
(idiom) to ask for trouble; to make a rod for one's own back
bitterness finishes, sweetness begins (idiom); the hard times are over, the good times just beginning
to complain without stopping (idiom); to bitch endlessly / incessant grievances
to make painstaking efforts (idiom); after much trouble / to work hard at sth
bleak; miserable
anxiety / distress
hard labor (in penal code) / coolie
lit. bitter taste (cf good medicine tastes bitter 良藥苦口|良药苦口) / fig. earnestly (of warning, advice)
to find joy in sorrows (idiom); to enjoy sth in spite of one's suffering
forced labor / corvée / penal servitude
to think hard / bitter thoughts / to pour out one's sufferings
bitter bamboo (Pleioblastus amarus)
to suffer every possible torment (idiom); bitter hardship / to bear one's cross
strenuously / persistently / hard / painful
gallbladder
to spare no effort
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!
hard work / laborious effort / painstaking work
hardworking and enduring hardships (idiom)
to consider from all angles (idiom); to think hard / to rack one's brains
to bear hardships and work hard (idiom); assiduous and long-suffering / hard-working and capable of overcoming adversity
to build up an enterprise through painstaking efforts
(idiom) to think deeply; to rack one's brains
solitary and impoverished (idiom)
ascetic practice
to visit the poor and ask about their suffering (idiom)
good times and hardships / joys and tribulations / for better or for worse
persisting despite trials and tribulations (idiom); conspicuous determination
unable to bear the pain (idiom)
to endure (years of suffering)
to treat (sb) unjustly / anguish caused by an injustice
lit. bleak wind and icy rain (idiom) / fig. hardships; miserable circumstances
hard times
torture / corporal punishment (traditionally involving mutilation or amputation)

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