HSK 6 · Verbs

吃苦 chīkǔ “to endure hardship” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 吃苦 means

  1. to endure hardship
  2. to bear hardships

How to say 吃苦

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale吃chī1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale苦kǔ3rd tone, dipping

吃苦 in a sentence

  1. 年轻人要能吃苦。

    Niánqīngrén yào néng chīkǔ.

    Young people should be able to put up with hardship.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 为了学好中文，他不怕吃苦。

    Wèile xuéhǎo Zhōngwén, tā bú pà chīkǔ.

    He doesn’t mind hard work if it helps him learn Chinese well.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 吃苦 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 吃 (chī) with each of its parts in a different colour
吃chīto eat; to consume
  • 口mouth · kǒuMeaning part
  • 乞to beg · qǐSound part

口 hints at the meaning (mouth); 乞 (qǐ) hints at the sound. Compare it with chī.

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.

How to write 吃苦

吃 6 strokes · 苦 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 吃苦

Words with 吃

吃chī · to eat好吃hǎochī · delicious小吃xiǎochī · snack吃惊chījīng · to be startled吃亏chīkuī · to lose out吃力chīlì · strenuous

Words with 苦

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

More words: Common Verbs

陈列chénliè · to display衬托chèntuō · to set off撤退chètuì · to retreat撤销chèxiāo · to cancel充当chōngdāng · to serve as重叠chóngdié · to overlap储存chǔcún · to store出卖chūmài · to betray

FAQs

吃苦 (chīkǔ) means “to endure hardship” or “to bear hardships”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it chīkǔ: chī with a 1st tone, then kǔ with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 吃苦 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type chiku with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 吃苦 from the suggestions. Typing chiku into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
吃苦 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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.