苦活 (kǔ huó) — hard, low-paying manual labor; bitter work
Definition
A colloquial noun for hard, low-paying manual labor — backbreaking work for little pay. Distinct from 体力活, which only describes the physical effort without the 'bitter' connotation of low reward.
noun
hardlow-paying manual laborbitter work
Examples
- 苦活，。Tā měi tiān gān kǔ huó, zhèng de qián què hěn shǎo.He does bitter work every day but earns very little money.
- 苦活。Hěn duō nóng mín gōng zài gōng dì shàng zuò kǔ huó.Many migrant workers do hard labor on construction sites.
- 苦活。Tā bù xiǎng ràng hái zi jiāng lái yě gān kǔ huó.She doesn't want her children to do bitter work in the future either.
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