不辞辛苦 (bù cí xīn kǔ) — to spare no effort; to willingly endure hardship

Definition

A formal idiom praising someone's willingness to push through hardship for a goal. It frames the speaker's or a third party's effort as admirable, more literary than plain 努力.

idiom
to spare no effortto willingly endure hardship

Examples

  • ，不辞辛苦。
    Tā wèi le wán chéng zhè ge xiàng mù, bù cí xīn kǔ dì gōng zuò le yí gè yuè.
    He worked tirelessly for a month to complete this project.
  • 不辞辛苦，。
    Zhì yuàn zhě men bù cí xīn kǔ, bāng zhù zāi qū chóng jiàn jiā yuán.
    The volunteers spared no effort to help rebuild homes in the disaster area.
  • 不辞辛苦。
    Tā men bù cí xīn kǔ dì bǎ suǒ yǒu wù zī sòng dào le qián xiàn.
    They spared no effort to deliver all the supplies to the front line.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

不辞not decline
不bùnot辞cídecline
偏正Modifier + head
辛苦hardship
辛xīnhardship苦kǔsuffering
联合Side by side

不辞 and 辛苦 combine as not decline hardship, so one willingly endures toil.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The picture in 不 originally showed a flower’s calyx; the “no” sense came later from a related character, not from this picture.

Open 不 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 辞 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The oldest forms of 辛 drew a newly grown tree shoot. The shape was later also read as a sharp marking tool, but that reading may come from confusing it with another character.

Open 辛 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
艸艸cǎograss
Sound part声符shēngfú
古
古gǔ苦kǔ
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The top 艸 shows grass or plants, matching the sense of bitter plants. The bottom 古 gives the sound.

Open 苦 →

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