何苦 (hé kǔ) — (rhetorical adverb) why bother?; it's not worth… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

何苦 (hé kǔ) is a rhetorical adverb meaning 'why bother?' — it follows the verb to comment that the effort isn't worth it. Compared with 何必 ('there's no need to'), it stresses that the trouble itself is pointless.

adverb

(rhetorical adverb) why bother?it's not worth the trouble

Examples

何苦？
Nǐ hé kǔ měi tiān jiā bān dào zhè me wǎn ne?
Why do you bother working overtime until so late every day?
，何苦？
Wèi le zhè diǎn xiǎo shì shēng qì, hé kǔ ne?
Getting angry over such a small matter — why bother?
何苦？
hé kǔ Gēn zì jǐ guò bú qù ne?
Why make things hard for yourself?

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

苦kǔhardship

何 means why and 苦 means hardship, giving the sense of why trouble oneself.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

人人rénperson
戈戈gēdagger-axe

The old form of 何 drew a person carrying something on their shoulder. If the carried thing was a 戈, the 人 and 戈 parts together showed that picture.

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.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 Attitudes & Opinions

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