Wiktionary

苦

苦 U+82E6, 苦
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-82E6
← 若
[U+82E5] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 苧 →
[U+82E7]
苦 U+2F996, 苦
CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-2F996
← 芽
[U+2F995] 		CJK Compatibility Ideographs Supplement 𦬼 →
[U+2F997]

Translingual

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Stroke order
Mainland China and Japan
 

Han character

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苦 (Kangxi radical 140, 艸+6 in traditional Chinese, 艸+5 in mainland China and Japanese, 9 strokes in traditional Chinese, 8 strokes in mainland China and Japanese, cangjie input 廿十口 (TJR), four-corner 44604, composition ⿱艹古)

References

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  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 1023, character 16
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 30797
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1482, character 13
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3186, character 2
  • Unihan data for U+82E6

Chinese

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trad. 苦
simp. # 苦
alternative forms 𡿵
𩇵
瘔

Glyph origin

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Historical forms of the character 苦
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts
   
Characters in the same phonetic series (古) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
箇 *kaːls
個 *kaːls
居 *kɯ, *kas
橭 *kaː, *kʰaː
嫴 *kaː
姑 *kaː
辜 *kaː
酤 *kaː, *kaːs, *ɡaːʔ
蛄 *kaː
鴣 *kaː
沽 *kaː, *kaːʔ, *kaːs
盬 *kaː, *kaːʔ
古 *kaːʔ
罟 *kaːʔ
估 *kaːʔ
鈷 *kaːʔ
詁 *kaːʔ
牯 *kaːʔ
故 *kaːs
固 *kaːs
稒 *kaːɡs
痼 *kaːɡs
錮 *kaːɡs
鯝 *kaːɡs
棝 *kaːɡs
凅 *kaːɡs
枯 *kʰaː
軲 *kʰaː
跍 *kʰaː
骷 *kʰaː
苦 *kʰaːʔ, *kʰaːs
葫 *qʰaː, *ɡaː
餬 *ɡaː
瑚 *ɡaː
湖 *ɡaː
鶘 *ɡaː
猢 *ɡaː
醐 *ɡaː
糊 *ɡaː
箶 *ɡaː
蝴 *ɡaː
胡 *ɡaː
瓳 *ɡaː
怙 *ɡaːʔ
祜 *ɡaːʔ
岵 *ɡaːʔ
婟 *ɡaːʔ, *ɡaːɡs
楛 *ɡaːʔ
据 *ka
裾 *ka
琚 *ka
椐 *ka, *kas, *kʰa
鶋 *ka
蜛 *ka
崌 *ka
涺 *ka
腒 *ka, *ɡa
鋸 *kas
倨 *kas
踞 *kas
涸 *ɡaːɡ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kʰaːʔ, *kʰaːs) : semantic 艸 (“grass”) + phonetic 古 (OC *kaːʔ) – bitter (as in bitter plants).

Etymology 1

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From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *b-ka (“bitter; salty”); compare Tibetan ཁ (kha, “bitter”), Tangut 𗎖 (*khie¹, “bitter”) (STEDT; Jacques, 2014). Within Chinese, cognate with 肝 (OC *kaːn, “liver”).

Pronunciation

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Rime
Character 苦 苦
Reading # 1/2 2/2
Initial (聲) 溪 (29) 溪 (29)
Final (韻) 模 (23) 模 (23)
Tone (調) Rising (X) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open Open
Division (等) I I
Fanqie 康杜切 苦故切
Baxter khuX khuH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/kʰuoX/ /kʰuoH/
Pan
Wuyun 		/kʰuoX/ /kʰuoH/
Shao
Rongfen 		/kʰoX/ /kʰoH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/kʰɔX/ /kʰɔH/
Li
Rong 		/kʰoX/ /kʰoH/
Wang
Li 		/kʰuX/ /kʰuH/
Bernard
Karlgren 		/kʰuoX/ /kʰuoH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		kǔ kù
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		fu2 fu3
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 苦
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		kǔ
Middle
Chinese 		‹ khuX ›
Old
Chinese 		/*kʰˁaʔ/
English bitter

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 苦 苦
Reading # 1/2 2/2
No. 4242 4243
Phonetic
component 		古 古
Rime
group 		魚 魚
Rime
subdivision 		0 0
Corresponding
MC rime 		苦 絝
Old
Chinese 		/*kʰaːʔ/ /*kʰaːs/

Definitions

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苦

  1. bitter
    苦瓜  ―  kǔguā  ―  bittermelon
  2. Alternative name for 荼 (tú, “bitter plant”).
  3. difficult; painful; hard
  4. hardship; suffering
    辛苦  ―  xīnkǔ  ―  laborious; hard; miserable
  5. (regional) excessive
  6. (transitive) to cause someone suffering; to give someone a hard time
  7. to suffer from; to be handicapped by
  8. (obsolete or Eastern Min) to worry about; to be concerned about
  9. strenuously; painstakingly
    苦笑  ―  kǔxiào  ―  to force a smile
Synonyms
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Antonyms
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  • (antonym(s) of “bitter”): 甘 (gān), 甜 (tián)

Descendants

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Sino-Xenic (苦):
  • → Japanese: 苦(く) (ku)
  • → Korean: 고(苦) (go)
  • → Vietnamese: khổ (苦)

Compounds

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See also

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Basic tastes in Chinese · 味道 (layout · text)
           
甜 (tián) 酸 (suān) 鹹／咸 (xián) 苦 辣 (là) 鮮味／鲜味 (xiānwèi)

Etymology 2

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Pronunciation

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Definitions

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苦

  1. Alternative form of 盬 (gǔ)

Further reading

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Japanese

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Kanji

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苦

(Third grade kyōiku kanji)

  1. bitter taste
  2. pain, anguish, suffering, discomfort, hardship, worry
  3. (Buddhism) dukkha, suffering

Readings

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Compounds

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Compounds

Etymology

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Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ja
 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
Kanji in this term
苦
く
Grade: 3
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 苦 (khuX, “suffering”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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苦(く) • (ku) 

  1. suffering
  2. (Buddhism) dukkha

References

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  1. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  2. ^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

Korean

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Etymology

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(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Middle Korean readings, if any”)

Pronunciation

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Hanja

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Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

苦 (eumhun 괴로울 고 (goeroul go))

  1. hanja form? of 고 (“suffering, pain”)

Compounds

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Vietnamese

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Alternative forms

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Han character

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苦: Hán Việt readings: khổ
苦: Nôm readings: cỏ, khó, khủ, khổ, cô

References

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