苦 kǔ
- Strokes
- 8
- Radical
- 艹 — grass, weed, plant, herb
- Made of
- 艹 grass, weed, plant, herb 古 old, classic, ancient
- How it's built
- Phono-semantic — one part hints at the meaning, another at the sound
苦尽甘来
kǔjìngānlái
after suffering comes happiness
Characters in this word
甘 gān
- Strokes
- 5
- Radical
- 甘 — sweet, tasty
- Made of
- 卄 twenty, twentieth 二 two
- How it's built
- Ideograph — the meaning is built from its parts
来 lái
- Strokes
- 7
- Radical
- 木 — tree
- Made of
- 未 not yet 丷 horns
- How it's built
- Ideograph — the meaning is built from its parts
Example phrases
- 他们辛苦了很多年，现在日子好了，真是苦尽甘来。 Tāmen xīnkǔ le hěn duō nián, xiànzài rìzi hǎo le, zhēn shì kǔjìn gānlái. They struggled for many years and life is good now: after hardship comes sweetness.
- 妈妈一个人带大三个孩子，如今苦尽甘来。 Māma yí ge rén dài dà sān ge háizi, rújīn kǔjìn gānlái. Mum raised three children alone, and now her hardships have turned to reward.
- 苦尽甘来，今年的庄稼终于有了好收成。 Kǔjìn gānlái, jīnnián de zhuāngjia zhōngyú yǒu le hǎo shōucheng. After the hard times, this year's crops have finally brought a good harvest.
Related words
- 痛苦 tòngkǔ pain; suffering
- 苦 kǔ bitter
- 艰苦 jiānkǔ hard; difficult
- 酸甜苦辣 suāntiánkǔlà life's joys and hardships
- 辛苦 xīnkǔ hard; tiring
- 吃苦 chīkǔ to endure hardship
- 愁眉苦脸 chóuméikǔliǎn to look worried; to pull a long face
- 何苦 hékǔ why bother; why make things hard for oneself
- 刻苦 kèkǔ hard-working; assiduous
- 苦难 kǔnàn suffering; hardship
- 苦恼 kǔnǎo distressed; troubled
- 苦涩 kǔsè bitter and astringent; bitter