苦苦 (kǔ kǔ) — strenuously; persistently; earnestly; sincerely

Definition

苦苦 (kǔkǔ) means doing something with hard, repeated effort over time — 'strenuously, persistently'. Pairs with 劝, 追求, 请求, 寻找 to emphasize earnest, repeated attempts.

adverb

strenuouslypersistentlyearnestlysincerely

Examples

苦苦。
Tā kǔ kǔ dì gōng zuò le yì nián.
He worked strenuously for a year.
苦苦。
Tā kǔ kǔ dì quàn wǒ liú xià.
He earnestly urged me to stay.
苦苦。
Tā kǔ kǔ dì zhuī qiú mèng xiǎng.
She persistently pursued her dream.

Origin

Reduplicated word

构词法gòucífǎ

重叠chóngdiéReduplication

A syllable said twice — for affection, for softness, or simply because that is how the word is said.

苦kǔbitter; hard

苦 repeated strengthens the sense of hardship, giving the sense of doing something earnestly or persistently.

Characters in this word

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 →