苦 楚

kǔ chǔdictionary entry

suffering / misery / pain (esp. psychological)

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-815f47e0675e9270. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

苦楚苦楚 [ku3 chu3] /suffering/misery/pain (esp. psychological)/

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
楚
chǔ
distinct / clear / orderly / pain / suffering / deciduous bush used in Chinese medicine (genus Vitex) / punishment cane (old)
Chǔ
surname Chu / abbr. for Hubei 湖北省[Hú běi Shěng] and Hunan 湖南省[Hú nán Shěng] provinces together / Chinese kingdom during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods (722–221 BC)

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.