苦

kǔ = ku + Ø3

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

苦 = 艹 + 古 : Karl Koala decided to repent for his sins and retreated into a cloister inside the space station. There he leads a very simple life full of hardship, e.g. he gave up on eucalyptus and just eats very bitter artificial lawn.

苦 character breakdown

苦
- 古
  - 十
    - 一
    - 丨
  - 口
- 艹

gǔ = gu + Ø3

surname Gu

gǔ = gu + Ø3

ancient / old / paleo-

古 = 十 + 口 : Mnemonic symbol: at least on German maps, this character actually resembles a cloister.

Oh no! Gitta Giraffe (gu) found that the golden cross (十) broke off of the cloister (古) in the space station's living room (Ø3)! She skewers a mandarin (口) on top of the cloister so that she can skewer the broken off cross back on to fix it.

cǎo = c + ao3

grass radical 草字頭兒|草字头儿[cao3 zi4 tou2 r5]

Artificial lawn. The King of Chu burns artificial lawn in the aorta.

Characters with 苦 as component

kǔ = ku + Ø3

broken utensil

hù = hu + Ø4

(tree)

Words with 苦

to speak sarcastically / to make cutting remarks / also pr. [wa1 ku5]

bleak / miserable

to view one's past as miserable and one's present as happy (idiom)

(Buddhism) the pain of parting with what (or whom) one loves, one of the eight distresses 八苦[ba1 ku3]

worried to death (idiom)

unsavory meal taken in remembrance of past hardships / fig. poor-tasting meal

having unspeakable bitter suffering / (often used after 啞巴吃黃連|哑巴吃黄连[ya3 ba5 chi1 huang2 lian2])

,

a small hole not plugged will give you grief when it gets bigger (idiom) / a stitch in time saves nine

A small hole not plugged will make you suffer a big hole (idiom); a stitch in time saves nine

to look anxious (idiom) / to look miserable

Sentences with 苦

苦 currently does not appear in any sentence.