HSK 6 · Emotions

苦涩 kǔsè “bitter” in Chinese

Traditional 苦澀

What 苦涩 means

  1. bitter
  2. pained
  3. anguished
  4. bitter and astringent
  5. agonised

How to say 苦涩

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale苦kǔ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale涩sè4th tone, falling

苦涩 in a sentence

  1. 听到这个消息，她露出了苦涩的笑容。

    Tīngdào zhè ge xiāoxi, tā lùchū le kǔsè de xiàoróng.

    When she heard the news, she gave a pained smile.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 这种茶喝起来有点苦涩。

    Zhè zhǒng chá hē qǐlai yǒudiǎn kǔsè.

    This tea tastes a little bitter.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 苦涩 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 苦 (kǔ) with each of its parts in a different colour
苦kǔbitter
  • 艹grass form of 艸 · cǎoMeaning part
  • 古old · gǔSound part

艹 hints at the meaning (grass); 古 (gǔ) hints at the sound. Compare it with kǔ.

The character 涩 (sè) with each of its parts in a different colour
涩sèastringent
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐ
  • 刃edged tool · rèn
  • 止stop · zhǐ

How to write 苦涩

苦 8 strokes · 涩 10 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

苦涩 (kǔsè) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 苦涩 (kǔsè). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 苦涩

Words with 苦

苦kǔ · bitter辛苦xīnkǔ · exhausting艰苦jiānkǔ · difficult刻苦kèkǔ · hardworking痛苦tòngkǔ · pain吃苦chīkǔ · to endure hardship苦尽甘来kǔjìngānlái · after hardship comes happiness

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

恐惧kǒngjù · fear空虚kōngxū · empty快活kuàihuo · happy哭泣kūqì · to weep狼狈lángbèi · in an awkward situation牢骚láosāo · complaint愣lèng · dazed冷落lěngluò · to snub

FAQs

苦涩 (kǔsè) means “bitter” or “pained”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it kǔsè: kǔ with a 3rd tone, then sè with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 苦涩 is written 苦澀. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type kuse with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 苦涩 from the suggestions. Typing kuse into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
苦涩 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.