| 苦 | kǔ | bitter; hardship; pain; to suffer; to bring suffering to; painstakingly |
| 苦难 | kǔ nàn | suffering |
| 苦笑 | kǔ xiào | to force a smile; a bitter laugh |
| 苦恼 | kǔ nǎo | vexed; distressed |
| 苦闷 | kǔ mèn | depressed; dejected; feeling low |
| 苦干 | kǔ gàn | to work hard |
| 苦战 | kǔ zhàn | bitter struggle; hard battle; arduous effort |
| 苦味 | kǔ wèi | bitter taste; bitterness |
| 苦心 | kǔ xīn | painstaking effort; to take a lot of trouble; laborious at pains |
| 苦痛 | kǔ tòng | pain; suffering |
| 苦头 | kǔ tou | sufferings |
| 苦苦 | kǔ kǔ | strenuously; persistently; hard; painful |
| 苦功 | kǔ gōng | hard work; laborious effort; painstaking work |
| 苦役 | kǔ yì | forced labor; corvée; penal servitude |
| 苦海 | kǔ hǎi | lit. sea of bitterness; abyss of worldly suffering (Buddhist term); depths of misery |
| 苦涩 | kǔ sè | bitter and astringent; pained; agonized |
| 苦水 | kǔ shuǐ | bitter water (e.g. mineral water containing sulfates); suffering; digestive fluids rising from stomach to the mouth; fig. bitter complaint |
| 苦力 | kǔ lì | bitter work; hard toil; coolie (English is loan word), unskilled Chinese laborer in colonial times |
| 苦命 | kǔ mìng | hard lot; bitter fate |
| 苦楚 | kǔ chǔ | suffering; misery; pain (esp. psychological) |
| 苦处 | kǔ chu | suffering; distress |
| 苦衷 | kǔ zhōng | painful embarrassment; predicament; difficulties |
| 苦不唧 | kǔ bu jī | slightly bitter |
| 苦不唧儿 | kǔ bu jīr | erhua variant of 苦不唧, slightly bitter |
| 苦中作乐 | kǔ zhōng zuò lè | to find joy in sorrows (idiom); to enjoy sth in spite of one's suffering |
| 苦主 | kǔ zhǔ | victim's family (esp. in murder case) |
| 苦事 | kǔ shì | hard job; arduous task |
| 苦刑 | kǔ xíng | torture; corporal punishment (traditionally involving mutilation or amputation) |
| 苦劳 | kǔ láo | toil; hard work |
| 苦参 | kǔ shēn | liquorice (Sophora flavescens), with roots used in traditional Chinese medicine |
| 苦口 | kǔ kǒu | lit. bitter taste (cf good medicine tastes bitter 良药苦口); fig. earnestly (of warning, advice) |
| 苦口婆心 | kǔ kǒu pó xīn | earnest and well-meaning advice (idiom); to persuade patiently |
| 苦因 | kǔ yīn | affliction |
| 苦境 | kǔ jìng | grievance; dire straits |
| 苦大仇深 | kǔ dà chóu shēn | great bitterness, deep hatred (idiom); deeply ingrained long-standing resentment |
| 苦寒 | kǔ hán | bitter cold |
| 苦工 | kǔ gōng | hard labor (in penal code); coolie |
| 苦差 | kǔ chāi | hard and unprofitable (job); poorly paid drudgery; arduous and unrewarding (undertaking) |
| 苦差事 | kǔ chāi shi | hard and unprofitable; drudgery; sweated labor |
| 苦待 | kǔ dài | treat harshly |
| 苦心孤诣 | kǔ xīn gū yì | to make painstaking efforts (idiom); after much trouble; to work hard at sth |
| 苦心经营 | kǔ xīn jīng yíng | to build up an enterprise through painstaking efforts |
| 苦思 | kǔ sī | to think hard; bitter thoughts; to pour out one's sufferings |
| 苦思冥想 | kǔ sī míng xiǎng | to consider from all angles (idiom); to think hard; to rack one's brains |
| 苦情 | kǔ qíng | wretched situation; plight; wretched; miserable |
| 苦杏仁苷 | kǔ xìng rén gān | amygdalin |
| 苦果 | kǔ guǒ | lit. bitter fruit; fig. painful consequence |
| 苦根 | kǔ gēn | underlying cause of poverty |
| 苦楝 | kǔ liàn | chinaberry (Melia azedarach) |
| 苦况 | kǔ kuàng | wretched state; miserable plight |
