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良药苦口

liáng yào kǔ kǒudictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
good medicine tastes bitter (idiom) / fig. frank criticism is hard to swallow
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-6da8049e9d489450. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

良藥苦口 良药苦口 [liang2 yao4 ku3 kou3] /good medicine tastes bitter (idiom); fig. frank criticism is hard to swallow/

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: 良藥苦口

  • 良
    liáng

    good / very / very much

  • 药
    yào

    leaf of the iris / medicine / drug / substance used for a specific purpose (e.g. poisoning, explosion, fermenting) / CL:種|种[zhǒng],服[fù],味[wèi] / to poison

  • 苦
    kǔ

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

  • 口
    kǒu

    mouth / classifier for things with mouths (people, domestic animals, cannons, wells etc) / classifier for bites or mouthfuls

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.