Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Animals & Wildlife

酷: cruel, severe

Also: atrocious, unjust

JLPT N114 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

酉 carries the meaning · 告 gives the sound

14 strokes

Two readings, and the words that use each

コクkoku · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 酷こくsevere; harsh; stringent
  • 過酷かこくsevere; harsh; hard
  • 残酷ざんこく
  • 酷似こくじ
  • 冷酷れいこく

ひどいhidoi · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 酷いひどいcruel; heartless; hard
  • 酷くひどくterribly; awfully; dreadfully

Words: JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Cheers to the harvest! This radical represents the ancient jars of fermented wine and the bounty of the ripened earth.”
More in the 酉 bird of the west story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
酉

Also built on bird of the west (酉)

All 13
告

Also built on revelation (告)

酷 takes the 告 family's reading, コク (koku).

Also read コク

10 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
酷 cruel · 告
vs酪 dairy products · 各
酷 has 告 where 酪 has 各.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · kù

Same form: 酷 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
酷 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
酷 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin kù 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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