苦 : Suffering

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Components:

艹古

suffering, trial, worry, hardship, feel bitter, scowl

On 'yomi:

ク(ku)

Kun 'yomi:

くる.しい(kuru.shii) -ぐる.しい(guru.shii) くる.しむ(kuru.shimu) くる.しめる(kuru.shimeru) にが.い(niga.i) にが.る(niga.ru)

Strokes:	8
Radical:	艸 (140)
Usage Rating:	623

JLPT:	N3
old JLPT:	2
Grade:	3

Unicode:	082e6
jis208:	22-76

Some information on this page provided by EDICT

苦 Usage examples

難行苦行(なんぎょうくぎょう)	penance, hardship
業苦(ごうく)	karmic suffering
苦界に身を沈める(くがいにみをしずめる)	to become a prostitute (sink into a brothel)
苦味素(くみそ)	bitter principle
苦しい言い訳(くるしいいいわけ)	lame excuse, poor excuse
苦しい懐(くるしいふところ)	tight budget
苦しがる(くるしがる)	to suffer, to complain of a pain
疾苦(しっく)	affliction, suffering
借金で苦しむ(しゃっきんでくるしむ)	to be distressed with debts
苦い薬(にがいくすり)	bitter medicine
苦い経験(にがいけいけん)	bitter experience
苦り顔(にがりがお)	sour (wry) face
楽あれば苦あり(らくあればくあり) 楽有れば苦有り(らくあればくあり)	After pleasure comes pain, There is no pleasure without pain, There is no rose without a thorn, Take the good with the bad
苦無(くない)	mediaeval farming tool for digging, prying, etc.
苦学力行(くがくりっこう)	strenuous pursuit of learning under difficulties
困苦欠乏(こんくけつぼう)	hardships and privations
焦心苦慮(しょうしんくりょ)	worrying oneself (about), being anxious (about), fidgeting (about)
反間苦肉(はんかんくにく)	stratagem for causing a rift in the enemy camp by using a seditious plot
苦労し抜く(くろうしぬく)	to go through all sorts of hardships
苦(く)	duhkha (suffering), anguish, suffering, distress, anxiety, worry, trouble, difficulty, hardship
艱難苦労(かんなんくろう)	trials and tribulations, adversities, suffering hardships and troubles
刻苦精進(こっくしょうじん)	being arduous, working diligently enduring hardships, making a strenuous effort
刻苦精励(こっくせいれい)	being arduous, working diligently enduring hardships, making a strenuous effort
困苦窮乏(こんくきゅうぼう)	hardships and privations
辛苦艱難(しんくかんなん)	trials and tribulations, adversities, suffering hardships and troubles
辛酸甘苦(しんさんかんく)	hardships and joys, tasting the sweets and bitters of life, (having seen much of life) being well-versed in the ways of the world
善戦苦闘(ぜんせんくとう)	putting up a good fight against some odds
苦手意識(にがていしき)	awareness that somebody will be hard to deal with, awareness that one is not good at something, (feeling) not up to doing something
大の苦手(だいのにがて)	dread, horror, hatred
苦虫を噛み潰したよう(にがむしをかみつぶしたよう) 苦虫を噛み潰した様(にがむしをかみつぶしたよう) 苦虫を噛みつぶしたよう(にがむしをかみつぶしたよう) 苦虫をかみつぶした様(にがむしをかみつぶしたよう) 苦虫を噛みつぶした様(にがむしをかみつぶしたよう)	sour (expression, as if having swallowed a bitter bug)
ホロ苦い(ほろにがい) ほろ苦い(ほろにがい)	bittersweet, slightly bitter, something that has a strong taste that adults favor
餓えに苦しむ(うえにくるしむ)	to be suffering from hunger
苦に病む(くにやむ)	to worry, to suffer
苦集滅道(くしゅめつどう)	Suffering, Source of Suffering Desire, The Cessation of Suffering, The Way Leading to the Cessation of Suffering (The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism)
苦菜(ニガナ)	Ixeris dentata (species of the daisy family)
苦情調査官(くじょうちょうさかん)	ombudsman
苦は楽の種(くはらくのたね)	one cannot have pleasure without pain, no pain, no gain
楽は苦の種苦は楽の種(らくはくのたねくはらくのたね)	one cannot have pain without pleasure, and one cannot have pleasure without pain
良薬は口に苦し(りょうやくはくちににがし)	good medicine tastes bitter, the most helpful advice may be difficult to listen to