HSK 5 · Verbs

克服 kèfú “to overcome (difficulties)” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 克服 means

  1. to overcome (difficulties)
  2. (try to) overcome (hardships etc)
  3. to conquer
  4. to put up with
  5. to endure

How to say 克服

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale克kè4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale服fú2nd tone, rising

克服 in a sentence

  1. 他们可以克服恐惧。

    Tāmen kěyǐ kèfú kǒngjù.

    They can conquer their fear.

    Sentence #334641 from Tatoeba

  2. 不管发生了什么，我都会克服困难的。

    Bùguǎn fāshēng le shénme, wǒ dōu huì kèfú kùnnan de.

    No matter what happens, I’ll overcome the difficulties.

    Sentence #1746967 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我想办法克服了对别人吹毛求疵的毛病。

    Wǒ xiǎng bànfǎ kèfú le duì biéren chuīmáoqiúcī de máobìng.

    I’ve found a way to overcome my habit of nitpicking.

    Sentence #2669713 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 克服 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 克 (kè) with each of its parts in a different colour
克kèto be able to
  • 十ten · shí
  • 兄elder brother · xiōng
The character 服 (fú) with each of its parts in a different colour
服fúclothes
  • 月moon · yuè
  • 卩seal · jié
  • 又again · yòu

How to write 克服

克 7 strokes · 服 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 克服

Words with 克

巧克力qiǎokèlì · chocolate (loanword)克kè · gram麦克风màikèfēng · microphone (loanword)攻克gōngkè · to capture克制kèzhì · to restrain

Words with 服

衣服yīfu · clothes服务员fúwùyuán · waiter舒服shūfu · comfortable服务fúwù · to serve服装fúzhuāng · dress说服shuōfú · to persuade佩服pèifú · to admire制服zhìfú · uniform服从fúcóng · to obey屈服qūfú · to yield

More words: Common Verbs

捐juān · to donate开放kāifàng · to open (to the public)砍kǎn · to chop克kè · gram控制kòngzhì · to control拦lán · to block利用lìyòng · to make use of联合liánhé · to combine

FAQs

克服 (kèfú) means “to overcome (difficulties)” or “(try to) overcome (hardships etc)”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it kèfú: kè with a 4th tone, then fú with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 克服 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type kefu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 克服 from the suggestions. Typing kefu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
克服 is an HSK 5 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 from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.