HSK 5 · Emotions

痛苦 tòngkǔ “pain” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 痛苦 means

  1. pain
  2. suffering
  3. painful

Measure word 个 gè · 一个痛苦 yí ge tòngkǔ

How to say 痛苦

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale痛tòng4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale苦kǔ3rd tone, dipping

痛苦 in a sentence

  1. 药物缓解了他的痛苦。

    Yàowù huǎnjiě le tā de tòngkǔ.

    The medicine eased his pain.

    Sentence #2312182 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 真相可能比谎言更令人痛苦。

    Zhēnxiàng kěnéng bǐ huǎngyán gèng lìngrén tòngkǔ.

    The truth can be more painful than a lie.

    Sentence #2007055 from Tatoeba

  3. 不能吃甜食是极其痛苦的事情。

    Bù néng chī tiánshí shì jíqí tòngkǔ de shìqing.

    Not being able to eat sweets is sheer torture.

    Sentence #2454755 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 痛苦 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 痛 (tòng) with each of its parts in a different colour
痛tòngache
  • 疒sickness · nèMeaning part
  • 甬path · tǒngSound part

疒 hints at the meaning (sickness); 甬 (tǒng) hints at the sound. Compare it with tòng.

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 痛苦

痛 12 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.

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

Words related to 痛苦

Words with 痛

痛tòng · painful痛快tòngkuài · delighted

Words with 苦

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

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

情绪qíngxù · mood热爱rè'ài · to love ardently热心rèxīn · enthusiastic疼爱téng'ài · to love dearly痛快tòngkuài · delighted微笑wēixiào · smile无奈wúnài · to have no alternative无所谓wúsuǒwèi · to not matter

FAQs

痛苦 (tòngkǔ) means “pain” or “suffering”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it tòngkǔ: tòng with a 4th 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. 痛苦 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 个 (gè). For example, one pain is 一个痛苦 (yí ge tòngkǔ).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type tongku with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 痛苦 from the suggestions. Typing tongku into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
痛苦 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.