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苦心 (kǔ xīn) — (noun) painstaking effort, deliberate hard work; (adverb) painstakingly, with great effort

Definition

苦心 (kǔxīn) means 'painstaking effort' — often for a long, careful undertaking. Compare 刻意 (more about conscious intent, often negative), 心血 (the emotional/creative investment itself), 大力 (physical force or vigorous backing).

noun
painstaking effortdeliberate hard work
adverb
painstakinglywith great effort

Examples

  • 苦心，。
    Fù mǔ de yí piàn kǔ xīn, hái zi zhǎng dà hòu cái néng lǐ jiě.
    Children can only understand their parents' painstaking care when they grow up.
  • 苦心，。
    Tā kǔ xīn yán jiū le sān nián, zhōng yú qǔ dé le tū pò.
    He painstakingly researched for three years and finally made a breakthrough.
  • ，。
    Zhè jiā gōng sī kǔ xīn jīng yíng le shí nián, kǒu bēi hěn hǎo.
    This company has painstakingly operated for ten years and has a good reputation.

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kǔpainstaking
心xīnheart

A 心 that is 苦 shows painstaking effort and anxious thought.

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 →

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

The shape of 心 comes from a drawing of a heart, now highly stylized.

Open 心 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

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