漢字Kanji · in Textiles, Plants & Food
苦: suffering, trial
Also: worry, hardship, feel bitter, scowl
JLPT N38 strokesGrade 3Your ink: 白 Not met
艹 carries the meaning · 古 gives the sound
8 strokes
Three readings, and the words that use each
クku · on'yomi · in compounds
- 苦労するくろうするsuffer, toil
- 苦悩するくのうするagonize, be in anguish
- 苦心するくしんするmake an effort, take pains
- 苦笑するくしょうするsmile bitterly
- 苦痛くつうpain
- 苦情くじょうcomplaint
くるしいkurushii · kun'yomi · on its own
- 苦しいくるしいpainful
にがいnigai · kun'yomi
- 苦いにがいbitter
- 苦手なにがてなpoor (at)
Also read -ぐるしい, くるしむ, くるしめる, にがる, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
成り立ち
Where it comes from
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Grass growing on top! Like a green crown upon the earth, this radical sits above kanji related to flowers, herbs, and vegetation.”
繋がり
Connections
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
古
Also built on old (古)
The 古 family reads コ (ko); 苦 is read ク.
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by side苦 suffering · 艹
vs固 harden · 囗In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · kǔ
Same form: 苦 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 苦 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 苦 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin kǔ most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.
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