苦 海

kǔ hǎidictionary entry

lit. sea of bitterness / abyss of worldly suffering (Buddhist term) / depths of misery

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-55674d1d36d8d870. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

苦海苦海 [ku3 hai3] /lit. sea of bitterness/abyss of worldly suffering (Buddhist term)/depths of misery/

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.

苦
kǔ
bitter / hardship / pain / to suffer / to bring suffering to / painstakingly
海
hǎi
ocean / sea / CL:個|个[gè],片[piàn] / great number of people or things / (dialect) numerous
Hǎi
surname Hai

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.