苦

kǔ

bitter; hardship, suffering

How to write 苦, stroke by stroke

bitter; hardship; pain; to suffer; to bring suffering to; painstakingly

Pictophonetic: semantic 艹 (grass), phonetic 古

Made of 艹 + 古

痛苦tòng kǔpain; suffering; painful
辛苦xīn kǔexhausting; hard; tough; arduous; to work hard; to go to a lot of trouble; hardship(s)
受苦shòu kǔto suffer hardship
苦难kǔ nànsuffering
艰苦jiān kǔdifficult; hard; arduous
苦恼kǔ nǎovexed; distressed
苦头kǔ tousufferings
挖苦wā kǔto speak sarcastically; to make cutting remarks; also pr. [wa1 ku5]
苦苦kǔ kǔstrenuously; persistently; hard; painful
苦痛kǔ tòngpain; suffering
苦衷kǔ zhōngsecret trouble; sorrow; difficulties
苦艾kǔ àiwormwood; Artemisia absinthium

学习英语很辛苦。
xué xí yīng yǔ hěn xīn kǔ 。
Learning English is hard work.
他们不怕艰苦的工作。
tā men bú pà jiān kǔ de gōng zuò 。
They're not afraid of hard work.
愚笨的头脑使腿受苦。
yú bèn de tóu nǎo shǐ tuǐ shòu kǔ 。
A foolish head makes for weary feet.
药物缓解了他的痛苦。
yào wù huǎn jiě le tā de tòng kǔ 。
The medicine decreased his pain.
你总是挖苦我的着装。
nǐ zǒng shì wā kǔ wǒ de zhe zhuāng 。
You are always digging at me about my clothes.