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有苦说不出

yǒu kǔ shuō bu chūdictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
having unspeakable bitter suffering / (often used after 啞巴吃黃連|哑巴吃黄连[yǎ ba chī huáng lián])
Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-0f849a27f0ee088f. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

有苦說不出 有苦说不出 [you3 ku3 shuo1 bu5 chu1] /having unspeakable bitter suffering/(often used after 啞巴吃黃連|哑巴吃黄连[ya3 ba5 chi1 huang2 lian2])/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 有苦說不出

  • 有
    yǒu

    to have / there is / (bound form) having / with / -ful / -ed / -al (as in 有意[yǒu yì] intentional)

  • 苦
    kǔ

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

  • 说
    shuì

    to persuade

    shuō

    to speak / to talk / to say / to explain / to comment / to scold / to tell off / (bound form) theory / doctrine

  • 不
    bù

    no / not so / (bound form) not / un-

  • 出
    chū

    to go out / to come out / to arise / to occur / to produce / to yield / to go beyond / to exceed / (used after a verb to indicate an outward direction or a positive result) / classifier for dramas, plays, operas etc

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.